The Offset Printers Association (OPA), Ludhiana, in association with the universities and printing institutions in India, has been organising the Print Olympiad since 2014. During the preliminary rounds, the competition selects the best print students among the four zones (East, West, North and South) and thereafter, during the national finale, the winner is selected from the top four candidates.

The West Zone finale jury comprised Prashant Patil, Jitendra Songire, Amey Ganu, Shubhada Joshi, and Anubhava Shiksharthi. Madhura Mahajan, HOD Printing Technology, summarising the details of first round competition announced the names of top five students from the West Zone, eligible to participate in the finale, round - Apeksha Deshmukh of PVG COET, Pune; Samadhan Baviskar, Mohit Katial, Rutuja Bhale and Vaibhav Lingshetti of MIPT, Pune.

The West Zone finale began with the distribution of five topics to the five students, one each assessed by the judges. The students were allotted a time slot of 5-7 minutes to speak on the chosen topic. Also, there was a Q&A session plus audience poll to select the winner out of these eligible students in accordance with the laid down criteria.

Apeksha Deshmukh of PVG’s COET & GKWIM bagged the award for ‘Top Print Student West Zone’. She will now compete with the other three regional winners at the national finale to be held in September 2024.

Khushru Patel, managing director, JAK Printers (Mumbai) was invited as the chief guest of the session. He shared the success story of JAK, how it has won 40 international and 432 national awards for quality printing, and was awarded ‘The Best National Printer Award’ for over 14 years. Patel extended an invitation to everyone to visit his company, at Byculla. A walk through session tailored for young designers, art students and print enthusiasts.

The guest of honour, Dattatray Kute, manager, University Press of SPPU and chairman of MED 25 of the Bureau of India Standards, said, “Printing and packaging technology is changing very fast. India has adapted to them. The BIS fixes its standards in the printing machinery manufacturing. Hence, the committee has decided to make standardisations speedily, said Dr Kute.”

Ashwani Gupta, co-chairman of the Print Olympiad project concluded, “It is our honour that Indian institutions like PVG are leading and supporting such a noble cause, where all the teachers and staff work with complete devotion and dedication.”