Newspaper print apprentice George Cunningham has been named as one of the top ten New Zealand apprentices of 2023 – the year they completed their qualification.

The success puts Cunningham (pictured) – who is a reel-fed printer for Otago Daily Times publisher Allied Press in Dunedin – into the running to be named BJ Ball Print Apprentice of the Year.

He was praised by managers for his “unwavering commitment to excellence, his focus is sharp and attention to detail unmatched, making him an invaluable asset to the team”.

Others in the top ten are: Martina Carroll (Freedom Plus, Palmerston North), Anna Hodge (Be My Guest Design, Dunedin), Levi Lindsey (MCC Auckland), Ruth Pollock (Be My Guest Design, Dunedin), Amit Shankar (Labelmakers, Hamilton), Satend Sharma (Polyprint Packaging, Auckland), David Smith (MCC Auckland), Kathryn Wheeler (Freedom Plus, Palmerston North), and Keanu Wipani (Opal Packaging Hawke’s Bay, Hastings).

PrintNZ chief executive Ruth Cobb said it was good to see the newspaper sector still committed to training and turning out top class apprentices.  “And nice to have a good news story for the media sector,” she added.

“It is always with such pleasure that I look forward to starting the process of selecting the Apprentice of the Year candidates – identifying the high achievers who have really put their all into their training and being able to reward that hard work,” she said.

The Apprentice of the Year award will be presented at Pride In Print during Wellington’s Tākina events on July 12.

Allied’s Otago Daily Times – launched in 1861 – has the longest history of daily newspaper publication in New Zealand. It merged with the Evening Star in 1975.

Pictured below: The Allied Press building in Lower Stuart Street, built in the 1920s for the Evening Star