Brebner Print puts unique stamp on PrintNZ 2026 Pride in Print Awards

Napier-based Brebner Print secured top honours (Supreme Award) at last weekend’s prestigious, annual PrintNZ 2026 Pride In Print Awards, held at Christchurch’s still relatively new Te Pae Convention Centre. Travers Dobson (pictured here) from Christchurch’s Leading Label Company was named as the BJ Ball Apprentice of the Year.

The Pride in Print Awards is New Zealand’s premier annual event celebrating excellence in the printing industry and recognising outstanding print work from across Aotearoa, highlighting creativity, technical skill, and innovation in print production. The awards feature multiple categories, including Process Awards, Category Awards, and the Supreme Award, which honours the most exceptional print project of the year

Brebner Print, a Division of Blue Star Group NZ, won the Supreme Award (and the Business Print Category Award) for its production of a series of New Zealand Bird stamps, produced for last year’s PhilaKorea stamp exhibition in Seoul. Matt Tobin, Brebner Print Stamp Production Manager, says: “We’ve been printing stamps for four years now and the demands for quality have demonstrably improved our standards across the business. We have some incredibly-skilled staff and it’s an honour to see their skill recognised like this.”

“We’ve since been contacted by collectors who weren’t able to get enough of them at the exhibition, asking for more. They show a depth of embossing unlike anything seen before on a stamp sheet, with a stunning design and exceptionally-detailed print to match it.”

Working locally, so enjoying plenty of support from inside the room, one of the biggest cheers on the night was reserved for Travers Dobson, named as the BJ Ball Apprentice of the Year. Looking back to when he started out, Dobson reflects: “I remember in my first week at Leading Label, there was a supplier on site chatting to a printer about labels on a press and they were talking really passionately, and I recall thinking ‘it’s no big deal, they’re just some stickers’. Well, about six months in, it became a pretty big deal as I developed quite a passion for labels and the whole industry, it really grew on me.”

Wind forward to receipt of the award and Dobson adds: “My former boss gave me a big hug on stage, so that was pretty cool.”

Other award winners on the night included:

–        Category Awards

·        Publications Newspapers – Otago Daily Times, 17 February 2025 (Allied Press)

·        Publications Magazines – Sage Journal (Blue Star Auckland Print & Packaging)

·        Publications Books – Well Worn Publication (Gravitas Media)

·        Business Print – New Zealand Birds Series (Brebner Print)

·        Promotional Print – WOW 2026 Calendar (Blue Star Wellington)

·        Labels – Kolo Pinot Noir 2022 (MCC Albany)

·        Flexible Packaging – Cheddar Natural Slices 200g (Sealed Air Hamilton)

·        Paper and Board Packaging – Vaione Gin Gift Cartons (Valley Print 2020)

·        Structural Design Packaging – Whittakers Caramel / Banana Presentation Box (ABC Original Print)

·        Packaging All Other Materials – Whittaker’s Brandy Snap (Gravure Packaging)

·        Sign and Display Print – Heineken Electric Ave Pallet Display (APC Innovate)

·        Specialty Products – Wella, Fine Art Screen Print (Southan Print)

·        Print Finishing – Osmosis Blemish Control Essentials Kit (Studio Q / LaserFoil)

·        Industry Development and Creativity – SolarBurst, The Colour Build Collection (MCC Albany)

·        Print Industry Promotion – Logick Playing Cards Set (Logick Print & Graphics)

 

–        Process Awards

·        Coldset Offset – The Post Your Weekend (Stuff)

·        Heatset Offset – Franklin Times (Webstar Auckland)

·        Sheetfed Offset – WOW Programme 2025 (Blue Star Wellington)

·        Digital – Heyday Snow Leopard IPA (Leading Label Co)

·        Flexographic– Cheddar Natural Slices 200g (Sealed Air Hamilton)

·        Gravure – Whittaker’s Brandy Snap (Gravure Packaging)

·        Inkjet – Dunhuang Culture in New Zealand, Silk VUE Dual-Layer Translucent Fabric Display (iProduction)

·        Screen – Wella, Fine Art Screen Print (Southan Print)

·        Letterpress – Putiki Estate (The Armarie Room)

 

–        Other Awards:

·       BJ Ball Apprentice of the Year – Travers Dobson (Leading Label Company)

·       Business Awards Category (Sustainability) – SCG

·       Trainer of the Year (Joint) – Rhys Fauvel (Blue Star Wellington) and Matthew Moore (Opal Fibre Packaging Christchurch)

·       Training Company of the Year – Opal Fibre Packaging New Zealand