Matt Completes Rise to Apprentice for the Year

Press Release from SWUG (NZ Single Width Users’ Group)

Matt Completes Rise to Apprentice for the Year

-- incs head shot, pic of Matt at work and SWUG logo --

Matthew Lowe from Bay of Plenty tri-weekly the ‘Whakatane Beacon’ has been named New Zealand SWUG’s Apprentice for the Year for 2010/11. SWUG is the Single Width Users’ Group, representing the newspaper sector of the print industry in New Zealand and this is its inaugural apprentice award.

Matt, 24, was selected ahead of 11 other nominations from various sectors of the industry nationally. Eight nominees came from the reel fed web offset sector, two from binding and finishing and one each from digital and maintenance/diagnostics.

Ben Orchard of Fairfax Christchurch and Jamie Melgren of APN Print Tauranga ran Matt close in the judges’ opinion, and featured highly in the selection process.

Matt’s prize includes a visit to the Australian SWUG conference in Hobart at the end of next month, sponsored by DS Chemport. He will visit the Herald & Weekly Times print site and Age Print Centre in Melbourne, as well as the DS Chemport plant, en route for Tasmania.

His success completes a journey of discovery that began when he left school seven years ago and has led to him completing an apprenticeship eight months ahead of schedule. He was home schooled in Opotiki but had no formal qualifications when he went looking for work.

“I started work straight from school in 2004. Without qualifications I was pleased to get a job in newspapers working in graphic arts. I picked up a lot of knowledge just working on the job, but it was when the Beacon offered me an apprenticeship in 2007 that I really began to appreciate how much I still had to learn,” says Matt.

However, he learned fast. Matt completed an apprenticeship in digital print process (prepress) in December, eight months ahead of the allocated time, with outstanding results of excellence in all but one of his 11 assignments and portfolios.

Brian Cornes, General Manager of Beacon Print Ltd, recommended his nomination for the SWUG Apprentice for the Year and Matt says he was “pretty stoked” with finding that his work was judged the most impressive against his peers from all sectors of the industry throughout New Zealand.

Mr Cornes said he was delighted with Matt’s success, as it was Matt’s only chance at this award because he will not meet the criteria for next year.

“Having been Matt’s manager up until last August I know the hard work he puts in to his career on a daily basis. Every bit of work is of the highest quality possible and always ahead of time. He is reliable and honest and a great team member.

“We are a small independent printing firm that doesn’t get the opportunity to visit the more technologically-advanced sites that this award offers. With the interest that Matt has shown for the industry, this would be a chance of a lifetime for him.”

Looking ahead, Matt says he is keen to further his career in the industry by wanting to get into colour management. Plus he has just purchased an Open2View real estate photography business, taking pictures of properties for real estate agency listings, which he does in his spare time.

“I like the technical side of things so with my work and my photography I will be able to combine the two interests,” he says.

Matt has made other big strides outside of work apart from developing his photography. He is married to Gemma and they have owned their own house for about four years.

The paper he works for, the broadsheet ‘Whakatane Beacon’ is an institution in the eastern Bay of Plenty, with a circulation of 8412. The company also produces the tabloid ‘Bay Weekend’ and bi-weekly ‘Opotiki News’, and prints the ‘Waitomo News’ for the neighbouring Te Kuiti/Otorohanga region on its Goss Community press.

SWUG NZ chairman Dan Blackbourn said this inaugural award was selected by members of the SWUG committee who are suppliers to the industry and therefore at the coalface of industry best practice.

“This award is the first for SWUG NZ and will continue in future years. The committee congratulates Matt and we know he will enjoy the trip. Our thanks go to DS Chemport for kindly sponsoring it.”

ends

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