▼ The Printing Charity recently celebrated its 2026 Rising Star Awards at an event in London TRAINING AND ENTRY POINTS | ROB FLETCHER 74 Issue 362 - September | October 2026 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk “I am delighted to be joining BPIF Training at such an exciting stage in its journey,” Hudson-Kelly comments, adding: “One of the greatest strengths of BPIF Training is its exceptional leadership team and dedicated people. Karly Lattimore [managing director of BPIF Training] and her experienced team will continue to lead the business day-today, providing continuity, expertise, and trusted support to learners, employers, and partners, with my support as chair as we build on the company’s strong foundations and future growth ambitions.” Lattimore adds: “BPIF Training has achieved significant progress over recent years, with continued improvements in quality, employer engagement, and organisational performance. This new chapter creates exciting opportunities to build further on those foundations, while maintaining the strong sector relationships and values that are central to the organisation.” Rising Star of the Show Rounding the discussion off is Liz Ross Martyn, director of marketing and engagement for the Printing Charity, and a key voice in its popular Rising Stars initiative. Rather than acting as an entry route, the programme helps to retain and develop early-career talent already working in the industry. “The Rising Star Awards provide funding to people aged 18 to 35 building a career in our sector to enable them to undertake the training they know will help them progress in print and the allied trades,” Martyn says, adding: “They’re seeing what’s needed, and putting themselves forward for training that will help meet that need. Through that training, they bring new skills into the sector, which, ultimately, can inspire them to remain within it. “In addition, the Rising Stars is designed primarily to provide training outside core role areas through developing personal skills. This year, 43% of winner courses were in this category, including project management, leadership, resilience, confidence, and public speaking. Regardless of job role, these all provide excellent preparation for supporting progression and success, and navigating the pace of change.” While there is plenty of positivity around schemes such as the Rising Stars and FESPA UK’s Next Generation, the fact remains that there is an industry skills shortage. So, what can the market do to improve training opportunities and encourage new talent to join? Martyn says that after speaking with several Rising Star Award winners about how young people can be encouraged first to join, and then to thrive in our sector, five key topics emerged. “First, it’s really key to shout about the fact that print is an industry young people can be passionate about,” Martyn says, continuing: “Second, make it clear that print provides many ways to build a career, while third, there should be a commitment by businesses to provide training and development for their employees, and to be open to those employees’ ideas on what this could look like. “Fourth, becoming part of strong communities and networks matters a lot, so space and time to do this is important. Finally, a commitment to workplace wellbeing and building and modelling the right culture from employers, including showing appreciation and encouraging healthy work-life balance and ‘shutting off’ when not at work.” While there is no quick fix to the industry’s skills shortage, one thing is clear: the print sector is taking positive steps to secure its future. From apprenticeships and specialist training to mentoring schemes and professional development programmes, businesses and organisations are creating more opportunities than ever for people to enter, grow, and build rewarding careers in print. The challenge now is to build on this momentum, continue raising awareness of the print industry’s diverse career opportunities, and ensure employers invest in developing talent at every stage. After all, while technology will continue to drive innovation, it is the people behind it who will determine the future success of the print industry. ▲Clark Shannon is compliance manager at Simpson Print anda FESPA Next Generation Committee member Managed by the Printing Charity, the Rising Star Awards provide funding to people aged 18 to 35 building a career in print Factoid We now operate a national provision to ensure printers everywhere have access to the apprenticeships in prepress, press, and postpress operations
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