Newly minted Security Printer Angus McGrath has completed a rare achievement by winning the 2022/23 Visual Connections - LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize. Angus won the $10,000 award during the Visual Impact Sydney 2023 Exhibition which was staged from 3-5 May at the Sydney Showgrounds He beat out a talented group of State Award winners from across the last two years (ie, 2022 and 2023).
“The award presentation night was great. I arrived at the Visual Impact expo and spent some time checking out some exhibits which were predominantly based around newer Digital Print technology. I met up with the other graduates which I had spent the previous day with during some industry site visits, and was introduced to some other LIA committee members, and representatives from the award sponsors such as Ball & Doggett, Heidelberg Australia, and Visual Connections. We were all a little nervous on the night as every graduate was deserving of the award but I’m wrapped with having been selected!” says Angus.
Starting with Staff Australia as a casual, Angus’ first role was with Innovia Security (now CCL Secure). He worked as a press assistant and before landing a position in NPA’s Logistics Department as a casual operator. After working there for six months, Angus then moved into a fulltime role in Finishing in August 2017. He worked in Finishing until March 2020 when he started his Printing Apprenticeship.
“Amongst the options at NPA, I was interested in an apprenticeship in our Maintenance department but the Printing Apprenticeship presented itself first,” says Angus.
Angus is the third generation of his family to work in Printing and Graphic Arts – his grandfather started a printing business and it was there that his father Dean (now NPA’s Chief Technical Officer) grew up learning the trade.
The apprenticeship experience for Angus coincided with the start of COVID so all the training plans became disrupted including last minute cancellations of on-campus days. Angus was placed on the Simultan IV and learned mostly on the job with the crew. Due to the chaos created by the pandemic, the apprenticeship wasn’t as structured as he had hoped for as there was no designated print trainer (as we have now with Andrew Reynolds). While this made the whole experience more challenging, it speaks to the need to be self-directed and self-motivated in order to be successful.
“The crew I worked with like Aaron (Theckston) and Ricki (Cadman) had recent apprenticeship experience, so they gave me a lot of good advice and they pushed for more training and support for us. Aaron’s presence on the press as my mentor was very helpful. He was advocating for my support and that translated into having myself and other apprentices getting exposure to different functions throughout the business – we got a much better idea of how the whole operation ran,” says Angus.
Successfully applying for the Graduate Apprentice awards takes time, good thinking and considerable effort. In both the State and National competitions, applicants were required to speak on their history and experience in printing, their current role, as well as their aspirations and goals. This included a written proposal on how they would utilise the $10,000 grant if they were to win.
“Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBS) and SICPA supported my application for the national award to provide a few weeks of intensive training at their facilities in Switzerland. This will provide further depth to my security printing training,” says Angus. “I want to feel truly competent in my role as a security printer, so accessing resources and training in Europe with some of the industry’s leading suppliers will really round out my learning experience.”
To put the National award in perspective, only five graduate apprentices win this award every decade! On behalf of everyone at Note Printing Australia, we offer a huge round of congratulations to Angus for winning this highly prestigious award.
One For the NPA History Books: Angus McGrath is congratulated on winning the 2022/23 Visual Connections - LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize by Starleaton CEO Ben Eaton, who also sits on the Board of Visual Connections.