Print’s future is in safe hands

We all have great work days, not so great work days and then, every so often, we have one of those amazing days where it feels more than a little fraudulent to use the word work as a descriptive.

Well, I had one of the latter days last week, when I was invited to join the interview panels for The Printing Charity’s Print Futures Awards, which offer grants of up to £1,500 to 18-30-year-olds wanting to develop their careers in print-related industries.

Naturally, helping to give away someone else’s money was never going to be hard work. But it was a truly awe-inspiring experience listening to the diverse range of applicants talk passionately about print, their plans and career aspirations.

While the stories were as many and varied as the purchases the grants, if successful, would be spent on, the enthusiasm of the applicants was most definitely a constant.

And it wasn’t just me that thought so, the other judges were just as inspired.

More importantly, though, I have a fairly strong suspicion that the passion and enthusiasm demonstrated by the applicants in their interviews is just as infectious in their workplaces too, and that must make them an even greater asset to their employers.

Because it’s all too easy to get bogged down in the daily grind and we all sometimes need reminding that that we’re part of an exciting, dynamic industry that has a fantastic future.

And if one day that future is in the hands of some of the people that I met last week, it can’t come soon enough.