The Printing Charity Rising Star Award 2024

Our Publishing Assistant for the last two years has been Craig McKerchar. He’s leaving us to take the next steps in his career in a new editorial position with Bloomsbury and we’re absolutely chuffed to bits for him – though we’ll miss him loads.

We are super proud of Craig, who is one of the 2024 recipients of the Printing Charity Rising Star Award! Before he left, we asked him to explain a bit about the award and the glitzy ceremony at the House of Lords in London.

---

Training courses in publishing can be expensive. Although courses range from the broad (An Introduction to Publishing) to the niche (Using Macros in Word Part 1), there’s a high possibility that whatever course you pick will cost money. Having a notable lack of money, I’ve always looked for ways ways around so I can have the career I’ve hoped for. This has led me to receiving a bursary for my undergrad English degree, a scholarship to study a master’s in Publishing, and now to the Printing Charity’s Rising Star Award. I hadn’t heard of the award before until my manager Elaine let me know about it. If you are as unaware of it as I was, it’s an award to help young people in the publishing, print and packaging sector reach their career goals with up to £1500 in funding. As a publishing assistant who has longed to become an editor, it was the perfect opportunity for me to undertake to some editorial training while avoiding having to put my cat for sale on Vinted to fund it.

After deciding to apply, I went online shopping for editorial courses and decided on three that took my funding request total to an eye watering £1400. The three courses were Essential Grammar, Developing Editorial Skills in Proofreading and Copyediting, and An Introduction to Fiction Editing. I filled out the application, which involved answering questions about my career path to date, what excited me about the industry, where I saw my career going in the next five years, and what the funding would be used for, including costs and dates of the courses. Not long after, I got an email letting me know I’d made it through to the next round, an interview with industry experts. Serious stuff! Luckily, this turned out to be an informal chat. At this stage they’re really just trying to get a sense of you, your career path and your goals. It was much more relaxed than I expected it to be and I ended the call feeling like it went well. The interviewers must’ve thought so too as I was informed the following week that I had been selected for an award – yas!

One of the hidden perks of being selected for a Rising Star Award (besides the £1500 in cash) is being invited to the award ceremony. But it isn’t just any award ceremony. It takes place at the stunning House of Lords with a backdrop overlooking the Thames and the London Eye. To add to the splendor of the setting, the award was scheduled for the 4^th July 2024: the same day as the General Election. I travelled from Edinburgh to London on the morning of the 4^th by train, so I had 5 whole hours to nervously stew ahead of the ceremony. I was due to arrive at Kings Cross at 3pm, and the ceremony was at 6:30pm, I decided to wear my outfit for the ceremony on the train, rather than rushing to get changed after arriving and risk crinkling all the clothes in a backpack. Thankfully I managed not to spill anything on my clothes (at least, not until the ceremony began).

Approaching the House of Lords brought home what an amazing opportunity this was. To prove I had the right to be admitted to Westminster and that I was not a Tory MP making a last-ditch effort to stay, I handed over my invitation. Alongside the other attendees, I was filtered into a small, densely packed room with a security presence that far outnumbered the guests. Once through the metal detector we headed into another much grander room before being beckoned to the room in which the actual ceremony was taking place – the one with the gorgeous views. People milled about and chatted, and I got to speak to some fellow award winners and judges. A clink of a champagne flute meant it was time for the business part of the evening to begin. Baroness Morgan of Cotes addressed the room, praising the dedication of the recipients for looking to develop their careers. She informed us that over £84,000 had been awarded to this years’ recipients from a wide range of roles, from HR professionals to sustainability experts. The CEO of the Printing Charity then began to announce recipients of the award. The walking-on-the-stage-to-accept-the-award part was, thankfully, over very quickly. After that, I found it much easier to relax: the champagne tasted crisper, the canapes even more delicious. The event only lasts two hours and they flew by. The ceremony was so fun and such a wonderful opportunity to meet and chat to industry peers in an immense setting.

I’m very much looking forward to my training courses and for anyone thinking about applying for the award, I would highly recommend it!

Could this be you next year? Find out more about the award here!