中文Scotland’s emerging print talent took centre stage at the 2026 Print Scotland Apprentice of the Year Awards, with Aidan McQuade of JJR Print in Dumbarton crowned Overall Apprentice of the Year. The ceremony, held last Friday (2 October 2026) in Glasgow, brought apprentices, employers, suppliers and industry leaders together to celebrate skill and innovation across the sector.
The annual awards recognise excellence across pre-press, press and post-press disciplines, and this year added a Mentor of the Year category to honour individuals who quietly power the development of future talent. The 2026 winners were: Overall Apprentice of the Year — Aidan McQuade, JJR Print, Dumbarton; Level 3 Pre-Press Digital Printing Apprentice of the Year — Steven Kelly, Graphic Warehouse, Coatbridge; Level 3 Press Digital Printing Apprentice of the Year — Luke Ashwood, Spirit Labels, Renfrew; Level 3 Post Press Apprentice of the Year — Mitchell Rowan, Bell & Bain, Thornliebank; and Mentor of the Year — Brian Kenyon, also of JJR Print, Dumbarton.
Print Scotland president Michiel Molenaar framed the winners as the industry’s future. “Today’s winners represent the future of Scotland’s print industry,” he said. “They have demonstrated the attitude, commitment and ambition required to succeed in a sector that continues to evolve and embrace new technologies.” He added that the awards also highlight the vital role of employers, mentors and training providers in helping apprentices reach their potential — winners stood out because they were engaged, curious, receptive to feedback and willing to take personal responsibility for their learning.
Director Garry Richmond reinforced the workforce-development message. “These awards showcase the strength of apprenticeship training across Scotland’s print sector and the commitment employers continue to show in developing future talent,” he said. With 16 apprentices currently in training and several more recently qualified, Richmond expressed optimism about the industry’s future, while thanking sponsors PG Paper, EBB, Antalis, Muller Martini and CCL, together with Ricoh and Premier Paper, for supporting the winners’ goody bags.
Print Scotland backs skills development through apprenticeship training, SVQ qualifications and workforce programmes designed to secure the sector’s future. In an industry wrestling with an ageing workforce and competition for young talent, events like this do double duty: they recognise achievement and they send a recruitment signal to would-be entrants who may never have considered print as a career.
The mentor recognition is especially telling. As automation, digital printing and software reshape daily work, the human transfer of craft and judgement remains irreplaceable. Celebrating mentors acknowledges that technology adoption and skills continuity must advance together.
For Scottish print businesses, the takeaway is straightforward: investing in apprentices today is the clearest route to a resilient, competitive sector tomorrow. The 2026 cohort suggests the pipeline, while modest in size, is producing exactly the kind of engaged, adaptable professionals the industry needs.
Source: Labels & Labeling (Print Scotland celebrates industry’s rising stars, 08 October 2026).
The awards arrive against a backdrop the whole UK print sector recognises: an ageing workforce and intensifying competition for young talent against tech, logistics and other industries. Scotland’s print businesses, many of them small and regionally rooted, feel this acutely. Events that put apprentices on a stage do more than hand out trophies — they broadcast that print is a modern, skilled, technology-rich career, not a declining trade.
The structure of the 2026 awards matters. By recognising pre-press, press and post-press separately, plus a Mentor of the Year, Print Scotland reinforces that excellence exists across the whole workflow and that the people who develop others deserve celebration too. In an era of automation, that human knowledge-transfer is precisely what protects quality and continuity.
Scotland’s apprenticeship model, built on SVQ qualifications and employer commitment, offers a replicable template. With 16 apprentices currently in training and more recently qualified, the sector has a visible, if modest, pipeline. The sponsors — paper merchants, equipment makers and trade suppliers — show an ecosystem willing to invest in its own future.
For other regions, the lesson is that recognition, mentorship and employer backing together form the most effective recruitment engine available. Print Scotland’s 2026 cohort may be small in number, but it demonstrates the kind of engaged, adaptable professionals the industry needs — and the case for investing in them long before the skills gap becomes a crisis.
The deeper opportunity is replication. Every region with an ageing print workforce could borrow Scotland’s model — clear categories, visible mentors, employer sponsorship and a celebration that reaches beyond the trade press. Awards alone will not fill the pipeline, but they are a low-cost, high-visibility lever in a long-term recruitment strategy. Print Scotland’s 2026 cohort is small; the habits it reinforces are what will matter for the decade ahead.
Recognition also travels. When winners and mentors share their stories in trade media and at supplier events, the message reaches young people who might never set foot in a pressroom otherwise. That visibility is the cheapest, most authentic recruitment marketing the sector has. Print Scotland’s model shows that celebrating achievement and building the pipeline are the same act — and that the industry’s future is best secured by honouring the people already building it.
