2019 saw local print innovation recognised on the world stage with printer Momento Pro, supplier Currie Group, and suburban outfit Style Communications graphic designer Indy Griffths all shining a beacon for local print by winning major awards overseas.

As print goes through the most disruptive period in its 500-year history, there will inevitably be casualties – and 2019 gave us no shortage of the good, the bad and the ugly hitting the skids, with several major names now just history.

Byzantine, brazen, or plain brilliant: some print businesses and individuals went to great lengths in their attempts to grow their businesses, keep them afloat, or just increase their margins – unfortunately usually at the expense of the rest of the industry and the taxpayer.

With all the checks and balances of the modern era, one thing remains clear: if humans are involved, stuff-ups will occur, which is why one of the buzzwords of this year and the next will be reducing human touchpoints. The 2019 print industry showed why.

Three big trade shows caught the attention of ANZ printers this year – PrintEx, Fespa, and Labelexpo – and they had a common theme: the blurring of boundaries of different print thanks to digitisation. Print21 was at all three.

In the ANZ print trade media landscape it was Print21 that powered forward, with its commitment to quality content and its unrivalled editorial industry engagement and experience setting it apart from the rest, as the magazine and associated platforms grew throughout the year.

Top Ovato executives, including chairman Michael Hannan (l) and CEO Kevin Slaven (r) welcomed customers to tour the expanded NSW printing site, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, and unveiled the company’s latest $20m manroland Lithoman 80-page high-volume web press.

Beacon Print in Whakatāne has signed an agreement to purchase a near new newspaper printing press from United Borneo Press Group of Malaysia, in what it says is a vote of confidence in community newspaper publishing.

Nicole Danger from Chapel Press, the winner of this year’s LIA National Graduate Scholarship Prize, has been recognised by the Governor of Victoria at a reception at Government House in Melbourne, convened to celebrate Women in Trades.

Cactus Imaging has added a second Fujifilm Acuity Ultra to its stable, the eight-colour inkjet grand-format machine joining its existing four-colour-plus-white printer which it showed off at an open house event in February.

Foxcil, a leading trade print supplier of labels and flexibles, has been quietly surprising small remote schools across Australia with Foxcil Care Packages.

Stock prices at Melbourne-based online personalised print portal Redbubble are in freefall, collapsing by almost half on revised growth forecasts.

The first Kodak Ultrastream high speed wide web inkjet press has been sold even before it has officially been launched, to a US print business.

Environmental campaigner Laurel Brunner says national newspaper USA Today's move to digital-only will have an adverse impact on print, journalism, and the environment.

Package printing, commercial printing, and book printing will drive a 65 per cent upswing in digital print over the next decade, according to industry research agency Smithers.

Victorian printer Galaxy Print and Design has invested in a new Cron CTP system from Currie Group, as part of its move to bring offset back inhouse.