ITEMS of interest
Two Industry Veterans to Be Honored
MIAMI BEACH, FL—At the upcoming 19th annual Graphic Arts Leaders of the Americas (GALA) awards banquet and reception, to be held here during Graphics of the Americas 2002, two industry leaders will be honored for their lifetime industry achievements and their significant contributions to the graphic arts.
Hans Peetz-Larsen, CEO of Heidelberg Americas, and José Zamora Contreras, CEO of PROCOEL S.A., have been named GALA North and Latin American award recipients (respectively) for 2002 by the Printing Association of Florida (PAF).
GALA Award recipients are chosen for their leadership in areas of management, technology, business and quality, as well as their contributions to the graphic arts industry, their community and society in general. This unique, dual-recipient award was established by the PAF to acknowledge the link between the North American and Latin American graphic arts communities.
Peetz-Larsen has been a member of the North American graphic arts community for more than two decades. He was named president of the former Heidelberg Eastern in 1974—a position he held until 1993 when Heidelberg Eastern and Heidelberg West merged to form Heidelberg USA.
In 1998, Peetz-Larsen rose to his current position while simultaneously serving as chairman of Heidelberg USA, Heidelberg Canada, Heidelberg Mexico and as a board member of NexPress. He also serves on the boards of PIA and GATF, as well as the board of advisors of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce.
Zamora has been involved in the graphic arts industry since 1975, starting out as an administrative officer. He has been with Mexico City-based PROCOEL S.A. since 1983. Zamora volunteers extensively and is currently secretary of the Unión de Crédito de la Industria Litográfica and president of the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de Artes Gráficas.
The GALA Awards banquet and reception will be held 7 p.m. Friday, February 1, in conjunction with the Graphics of the Americas show, which expects more than 25,000 domestic and international attendees and over 600 exhibitors.
Magazine Expresses Student Feelings
NEW YORK—The students of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan fled their school and headed north in the city as the terror and destruction of September 11 unfurled only five blocks away.
Through donations from R.R. Donnelley & Sons and paper giant Stora Enso North America, their thoughts and feelings from that day have been chronicled in a special 24-page magazine edition of the student newspaper, The Spectator.
A total of 850,000 copies of the magazine were distributed in the New York Times education section.
The Spectator, written and photographed entirely by students, contains articles, poetry and personal photos. The work enabled the students to express their thoughts and emotions about the attacks and how it has shaped their lives.
"There has been a lot of coverage of the attack, our evacuation and displacement, but nothing with the voice of youth," notes Jeff Orlowski, Stuyvesant High School senior and editor-in-chief of The Spectator. "We wanted to reach a wider audience with our own words and images, in a way people could hold and keep."
The students found their publishing forum via the Times' "Newspaper in Education" program, and then asked for help during the American Magazine Conference in New York, a move that netted the printer, Donnelley, and paper supplier, Stora Enso.
"This was such a special request from kids who had been through so much. Clearly, it was the right thing to do," states Francis R. Costello, president of Magazine Publishing Services for Donnelley. "When these gifted students, with a powerful story to tell, asked for help in sharing their experience through the printed word, we were happy to do anything we could."
