Melgren Wins Swug NZ Apprentice Honours

Melgren Wins Swug NZ Apprentice Honours

APN Print Tauranga’s Jamie Melgren has been awarded the SWUG NZ Apprentice of the Year title. SWUG is the Single Width Newspapers Group, representing the newspaper-printing section of the print industry.

Jamie’s success was announced at the SWUG NZ Conference in Wellington, where committee member John Green said that the standard of entries had been very high throughout, but the three judges (he, Ian Gibson and Sue Archibald) had been drawn to the accomplishments of one candidate — Jamie

He will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Australia, hosted by sponsor D S Chemport, and will attend the Australian SWUG Awards. PANPA (the Pacific Area Newspapers’ Association) will also sponsor Jamie to attend its conference in Australia next year.

Tauranga Press Supervisor Jason Sycamore said in proposing Jamie for the award that he had always been impressed by Jamie’s ability to do his job in reel fed (offset) to a very high standard.

“Jamie completed all his correspondence assignments with ease with all A passes. He has also attended block courses at trade school in Auckland with 100% attendance and passes.

“Jamie definitely possesses a huge talent of being able to learn quickly whatever he is shown to do. He has worked on both the coldset and heatset press lines and has been working the past year on the heatset press as I have found he has a very good eye for the colour and detail needed for quality heatset printing.

“He is very advanced on the maintenance and mechanical side of printing due to previously working for four years stripping down printing machinery. He has always been flexible to suit the requirements of the company and has always been helpful and proactive in the workplace.

“He is a pleasure to have around as he helps out so much without having to be asked to do so,” said Jason.

When told of his award, Jamie said he was overwhelmed — “I can’t say that I have won anything as big as this before!”

He said it was an amazing turnaround from a position of not knowing which direction his career would take him.

“I came all the way from Invercargill and moved up to the Bay of Plenty when I was 11 years old. I left school when I was 16 years old not really knowing what I wanted to do. I then got a job at Webco printing solutions and supplies, and gaining a good knowledge about the ins and outs of the printing units and auxiliary equipment, I then managed to fit in at APN Print Tauranga nicely.”

Jamie did get an indication last year that his star was on the rise — “Coming third in the SWUG Apprentice of the Year 2010 I was really happy with. I was quietly confident about this year’s SWUG award and am chuffed that I was not only nominated but to win this prestigious award is amazing for me.

“Overwhelmed is the word of the day for me!”

Jamie thanked everyone involved at APN Print Tauranga for helping him get where he is today. “I am full time on the heatset and love it. It’s a good challenge at times, which keeps me on my toes.

“I am really looking forward to visiting over the ditch.”

ends

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