New Zealand publisher NZME was named the country's best training company in Friday's Pride in print gala presentation evening.

It is NZME's third training win in five years, and reflects a commitment reflected at the flagship Ellerslie print site. "Ellerslie is now printing commercial work that it simply was not able to in the past," property, print and production group manager Dan Blackbourn says.

"We are wholeheartedly operating to the mantra of delivering 'top quality, all the time'. As a member of our team recently commented, without such focus 'we would be also-rans' in this industry."

In addition to the PrintNZ Training Company of the Year Award, NZME won five gold medals and nine highly commended certificates. Gold medals were earned for production of the Central Leader, BoP Times, New Zealand Herald, Western Leader and The Weekend Sun, representing five of 12 awards in the publications/newspapers sub-category.

Ellerslie operations manager Russell Wieck - who received the training award on stage - says the swag of awards represented the "culmination of a lot of hard work".

"Our culture is to train - we believe there is a future for the industry and we're going to keep pushing and promoting for the industry and bringing young people through," he says. "We go over and beyond the apprenticeship system. We look to train specifically for our needs within the industry.

"The culture within the business is that no matter what the subject matter is, the training is there and supported, and the people will take onboard whatever is required."

Pictured: NZME team members Russell Wieck, John Taylor, Fred Van Rooyen and Phil Ost

On our homepage: PrintNZ general manager Ruth Cobb presents the training award to Russell Wieck and Dan Blackbourn