At the 2013 Franklin Event, from left: Brenda Barozzi, event committee co-chair; Tim Freeman, president, Printing Industries Alliance; Shannon Miller, recipient of the Franklin Award for Distinguished Service; Vicki Keenan, vice president, Printing Industries Alliance; Adam Avrick, event committee co-chair.

Last week’s Franklin Event offered abundant proof that printers in New York City can still pack a hall to honor the best and the brightest among them.

The celebration, hosted for 375 attendees by Printing Industries Alliance at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on September 17, featured the presentation of Power of Communications Awards to outstanding performers in advertising, publishing, and printing. Also conferred were the John Peter Zenger Medal for individual excellence and the Franklin Award for Distinguished Service, a celebrity recognition.

Staged annually for decades by trade associations representing New York City graphics firms, the event surrounding the presentation of the awards continues to be the emblem of industry solidarity and fellowship throughout the metro region. The honors, says Printing Industries Alliance, “are awards through which the graphics industry, as a vital force in American society, takes pause and recognizes great leaders who have helped to preserve, strengthen or broaden the frontiers of liberty.”

Exceptional effort in support of these ideals has keynoted the careers of all recipients of the Power of Communications Award, presented for the first time more than 40 years ago to the legendary Henry Luce III of Time Inc. Last week’s recipients were praised for leaving their own records of positive influence, creative excellence, and outstanding achievement in the graphics industry segments they represent.

Honored for advertising was Jeanette Rivera-Ramos, manager of sourcing and procurement for Verizon. A self-described “kid from the South Bronx” who went on to become a senior print production and procurement manager for a long list of high-profile businesses, she currently oversees Verizon’s national print advertising production expenditures. Rivera-Ramos received a Luminaire Award from IDEAlliance in 2008.

Accepting the Power of Communications Award for Advertising, she spoke of the “whole new vernacular” that graphics professionals must become fluent in as the definition of what they do expands to include QR codes, augmented reality, mobile marketing, and other advancements in content creation and management. For graphic communicators, said Rivera-Ramos, it is no longer just about printing—the objective should be to ensure that printing is “the first step” in an integrated, multichannel sequence of marketing events.

Praising her parents for encouraging her education, she urged everyone in attendance “to take a chance on someone—to be the extraordinary person who makes a difference in someone’s life.”

Anthony Cenname, the publisher of WSJ Magazine, is this year’s recipient of the Power of Communications Award for Publishing. His 25-year career in magazine publishing includes stints as a sales and marketing executive for Travel + Leisure, Details, and Condé Nast properties.

Travel to close a deal kept Cenname from attending the Franklin Event, leaving Stephanie Arnold, sales director of WSJ Magazine, to accept the Power of Communications Award on his behalf. She said that under Cenname’s leadership, “we have turned the notion that print is dead on its head” by proving that a luxury-oriented title can do well in a shrinking market for magazines of all kinds. Arnold said that WSJ Magazine, launched six weeks before the financial meltdown of 2008, now has five U.S. and international editions with a circulation of 1.5 million.

Franklin Event honorees, clockwise from top left: Jeanette Rivera-Ramos, Anthony Cenname, John Tempest, and Kenneth Heath.

Also absent from the proceedings, but for a poignant reason, was John Tempest, posthumous recipient of the Power of Communications Award for Printing. Tempest died on November 7, 2012, after a 35-year career in sales and management in the print and media industries. His résumé included positions with Banta, World Color, Fuji, Acme Printing, and UniGraphic. He was an active member of Printing Industries Alliance and other graphics industry trade groups.

Tempest left behind him, says Printing Industries Alliance, “an immense family of friends.” One of them, Diane Romano, president and COO of Hudson Yards, remembered him as a mischievously humorous but unfailingly sympathetic character who cared genuinely about everyone in his large circle.

“Everyone has at least one J.T. story,” Romano said. “The lucky ones among us have many J.T. stories.” Tempest’s wife, Nancy, accepted the award in his memory.

The John Peter Zenger Medal, named for an 18th-century hero of press freedom in America, is reserved for industry members who demonstrate exemplary qualities of courage, charity, activism, or service. This year, the tribute was bestowed upon Kenneth Heath, group publisher at Source Media, a media company serving the financial services industry.

The award cites his personal crusade for the elimination of the disease ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). He also is an activist for other medical causes and spearheads Children of Fallen Patriots, an organization that provides educational help for young people who have lost parents in combat or training-related accidents.

Heath quipped that the “courage” attributed to him in his selection for the Zenger Medal “must relate to selling advertising in the financial services industry for 20 years.” Turning to his main theme, he called for voluntarism on everyone’s part to relieve the suffering caused by afflictions like Lou Gehrig’s disease. “I hope that soon, we all meet someone who can say, ‘Hello, I am a survivor of ALS,’” Heath declared.

SRO—with none to spare—was the word for the heavy turnout at the 2013 Franklin Event, held at The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River.

Those honored with the Franklin Award for Distinguished Service do not necessarily have to be connected with the graphics industry as long as they embody visionary leadership in their respective fields. The purpose of choosing celebrities as Franklin Award recipients is to focus attention on graphic communications and to promote its contributions to culture and society.

This year’s honoree, Shannon Miller, does have an industry connection in that her husband manages a 75-year-old commercial printing business in Jacksonville, FL. But, her celebrity stems from her extraordinary record as the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history. She is the holder of more than 100 national and international competition medals, the majority of them gold. Miller won seven Olympic medals for gymnastics—two gold, two silver, three bronze—and is the only female athlete to be inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame  twice (for individual and team performance).

Professionally, she is a promoter of health and wellness for women and children, spreading the message with a weekly talk radio program and a series of books and DVDs. Miller also is a motivational speaker and a sports commentator/analyst.

Having survived a rare form of ovarian cancer in 2011, she became an advocate for early cancer detection and treatment among women. She referred to her struggle with the disease in her Franklin Award acceptance remarks, noting the lessons it inspired her to teach others about goal-setting, persevering, and staying positive in difficult circumstances.

Miller also mentioned the struggles of the printing industry in recent years, but saluted it for the progress it has made toward making print more important to consumers.

Responsible for the success of the 2013 Franklin Event are Tim Freeman, president of Printing Industries Alliance, and a 24-member Franklin Event Committee co-chaired by Brenda Barozzi (Pipeline ps) and Adam Avrick (Design Distributors). The affair also had the support of 35 platinum and gold sponsors.

Printing Industries Alliance is a regional affiliate of Printing Industries of America (PIA), the national trade association for the graphic communications industry. Printing Industries Alliance represents graphics firms in New York State, northern New Jersey and northwestern Pennsylvania.

Its next event in the metro area will be an October 9 dinner meeting in Plainview, N.Y. featuring consultant Kelly Allan, proponent of the “Prediction Game Method” of motivational business management. Details are available here.

The Gamma Chapter of Gamma Epsilon Tau held its Gold Key and Founders Award ceremony in New York City on May 29. The annual event salutes outstanding achievement in graphic communications and promotes the value of higher education in the field.

This year’s honorees were Mike Connors, managing director, production department, The New York Times, who received the Gamma Gold Key Award; and Frank Romano, professor emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology, selected for the Founders Gold Medal and Citation Award.

Gamma Epsilon Tau is a national fraternity for students of graphic communications, and Gamma chapter is its branch at New York City College of Technology (City Tech). The school’s department of Advertising Design and Graphic Arts (ADGA) has an enrollment of more than 1,000.

The event, organized by ADGA Professor Frank Adae, was held in its customary venue, the 101 Club on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The evening’s master of ceremonies, Jack Powers, noted that the ceremony was taking place in a “big week” for graphics studies at City Tech, a week that also included ADGA’s annual student portfolio review and design competition.

When it comes to education for graphic communications and other high-tech disciplines, “no place in the city is more on top of that than City Tech,” Powers declared. Russell Hotzler, president of City Tech, said that it wouldn’t be possible to provide the quality of education that the school offers without the support of industry members who back its efforts on behalf of students.

Mike Connors (left) accepts the Gamma Gold Key Award from Jack Powers (center) and Prof. Frank Adae (right).

Exemplary among them is Connors, who assists students by hosting plant tours for them at the newspaper’s production facility in College Point, Queens. He also operates a student internship program there, raises funds for learning and physically challenged children, and is active with public-private educational initiatives like PENCIL.

Nick D’Andrea, manager of the College Point plant, cited Connors’s “driving passion to get things done” both professionally and in support of education.

“When you have a task that needs to be done, give it to Mike,” D’Andrea said.

Referring to students in his Gold Key acceptance remarks, Connors spoke of “our obligation as business people and adults to take care of them.” Most important to impress upon young people in graphics studies programs, he said, is that “in our world, it comes down to one word, quality.”

Powers and Adae present the Founders Gold Medal and Citation Award to Frank Romano (left).

Frank Romano, the recipient of the Founders Award, arguably is the most widely known and highly regarded of all specialists in graphic communications. This blogger, called upon to make Romano’s introduction, noted that his name “has become synonymous with higher education for the graphic arts.”

“it doesn’t stretch the truth to say that because of the enormous amounts of source material that he has created for the rest of us to use, he is an invisible presence in every classroom where graphic communications is taught,” we observed.

Romano spoke bluntly both to students and to educators and industry members who are trying to help them build the foundations of their careers.

He told the students that as products of an educational system that graduates 40,000 people trained in graphics every year, “you’d better be really good at making something print.”

But in some cases, Romano warned educators and their industry supporters, “we’re not teaching the right stuff. We’ve failed at that.” He urged everyone with responsibility for educational programs like ADGA’s to be sure that what they are teaching touches all of the bases covered by graphic communications as the industry practices it today.

In the induction ceremony for new student officers of Gamma Chapter, Gamma Epsilon Tau, the lighting of the candles symbolizes the light of knowledge overcoming the darkness of ignorance.

The program concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony that marked the induction of new student officers into Gamma Epsilon Tau’s Gamma Chapter.

The fraternity’s name comes from ancient Greek words representing its purposes and ideals: Gamma for letter, literature, or alphabet; Epsilon, for science or knowledge; and Tau, for art or craft. Thus translated, Gamma Epsilon Tau means “the science or knowledge of the art and craft of letters.”

On Friday, May 24, judges will select winners among the finalists in the 12th Annual Citywide Graphic Arts Competition, a contest that showcases the creativity of some of the city’s most talented high school students.

Judging by a panel of academics and graphics industry professionals will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the ground-floor Atrium of New York City College of Technology (City Tech), located at 300 Jay Street in downtown Brooklyn. At 2 p.m., first, second, and third prizes will be awarded in the categories of digital photography, web site design, digital video production, desktop publishing and design, filmmaking, and package design.

The competition has been in progress since February, when students began working on projects at their local high schools. Two preliminary rounds of online judging followed, yielding the finalists whose work will be scrutinized at City Tech next week.

First-place winners will receive trophies for their schools and will be invited to tour the main production plant of The New York Times in College Point, Queens. Additional prizes are being provided by Adobe, Apple, B&H Camera, and other supporters.

The event is sponsored by the Graphics Industry Advisory Commission, part of the New York City Department of Education’s Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education. The Commission is a volunteer group of executives, academics, vendors, employers, and analysts dedicated to keeping New York’s schools up to date with change in the digital graphics industry. They also work to expand career opportunities for students preparing to enter the field.

For more information, contact Florence Jackson, Advisory Council for Career and Technical Education, at 212-374-4224 or by e-mail at jackso2@schools.nyc.gov

Direct-mail marketing entrepreneur Gregory P. Demetriou has received an Outstanding CEO Award from Long Island Business News, recognizing him as one of Long Island’s leading executives.

Demetriou, founder and CEO of the Lorraine Gregory Communications Group in Farmingdale, NY, was honored along with 19 other Outstanding CEO recipients at a ceremony at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury, NY, on May 9.

Originally a detective with the New York City Police Department, Demetriou retired from the force in 1981 after being wounded in a shooting incident that led to his receipt of an NYPD Medal of Honor. He and his brother, the late Bob Demetriou, established a high-volume mailing operation for a brokerage firm in 1988. Four years later, Demetriou and his wife, Lorraine, formed the Lorraine Gregory Corp. and purchased Bi-County Mailing, a small mailing company in Bethpage, NY.

Today, the Lorraine Gregory Communications Group comprises Bi-County Mailing and its affiliates American Mail Communications, Direct Printing Connection, and Precision Envelope & Printing Co. The family-run business offers a full spectrum of graphic communications services including mailing and list management, consultation, project management, writing and editing, graphic design, e-mail marketing, digital and offset printing, bindery, services, and variable data printing.

The group’s mission is to develop and expedite marketing campaigns that enable businesses and organizations to reach their target markets and audiences. The company serves a client list of over 1,200 businesses and not-for-profits from its Farmingdale facility, where 34 people are employed.

Demetriou was one of the inaugural recipients of the annual Outstanding CEO Awards, created to recognize business and not-for-profit executives on Long Island who have consistently demonstrated remarkable leadership skills, integrity, values, vision and a commitment to excellence, financial performance, community, and diversity.

The May 9 ceremony also included a posthumous tribute to Leroy R. Grumman, co-founder and later chairman of the legendary aviation company that bore his name. Its latter-day incarnation, Northrup Grumman, was one of the sponsors of the event. A complete account with bios of all the recipients can be read here.

Ursula Burns, chairman and chief executive officer of Xerox, will receive the 2013 Prism Award from the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (NYU-SCPS) Graphic Communications Management and Technology (GCMT) M.A. program on June 13.

Presented annually, the Prism Award recognizes distinguished leadership in the graphic communications media industry. The 2013 Prism Award will be presented to Burns on Thursday, June 13, 2013 during the 27th Annual Prism Award Luncheon, which will be held at Gotham Hall in New York City. The event is a major networking opportunity for graphic communications professionals and is the most heavily attended gathering of its type for the industry in the New York metro area.

“I am grateful for the honor,” said Burns, who is a graduate of the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. “This award reminds me of our obligation to the next generation of graphic communications professionals, and I share the enthusiasm for an industry that has seen much change, and for the possibilities yet to come.”

The net proceeds of the Prism Award Luncheon help to fund student scholarships as well as student and program support for the NYU-SCPS GCMT graduate program, which prepares the next generation of media communications industry leaders. Since its inception, the Prism Award Luncheon has raised millions of dollars for scholarships for students in the GCMT program.

Previous NYU Prism Award recipients include Steve Forbes, chairman and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media LLC; Thomas J. Quinlan III, president and chief executive officer of RR Donnelley; Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, former executive vice president, HP’s Imaging and Printing Group; Cathleen Black, former chairman of Hearst Magazines; Antonio M. Perez, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak Company; Anne M. Mulcahy, former chairperson and CEO of Xerox Corporation; and Janet L. Robinson, president and chief executive officer of The New York Times.

Guy Gecht, CEO of EFI, is this year’s Prism Luncheon chair. The event’s Advisory Board co-chairs are Martin Maloney, chairman of Broadford & Maloney, Inc., and Kathy Presto, vice president, strategic sourcing, of Williams Lea North America. Serving as co-chairs of the Prism Committee are Laura C. Reid, vice president of production at Hearst Magazines, and William “Buzz” Apostol, vice president, sales, Americas at X-Rite/Pantone Inc.

The June 13 ceremonies also will include the presentation of a student award to a distinguished graduate of the M.A. program in Graphic Communications Management and Technology.

Gotham Hall is located at 1356 Broadway (36th Street) in Manhattan. Tickets for the Prism Award Luncheon are priced from $750 per person to $6,000 for a sponsor’s table of eight and $10,000 for a co-chairmanship (which includes a dais seat as well as a table of eight).

Tables, ticket reservations, and additional information are available through the NYU-SCPS Office of Development. Contact Melissa Malebranche at 212-998-6950, by fax at 212-995-3663, or by e-mail at melissa.malebranche@nyu.edu. More information about the Prism Award Luncheon and Scholarship is available here.