JJR Print in Dumbarton Wins Both Top Print Scotland Prizes

Aidan McQuade of JJR Print in Dumbarton was named Overall Apprentice of the Year at Print Scotland’s 2026 awards in Glasgow on October 2. The same 13-person shop also took Mentor of the Year, for Brian Kenyon.

Print Scotland director Garry Richmond said 16 apprentices are in training across the Scottish print sector, with several more recently qualified. That is the whole national intake behind a night of five trophies.

A Dumbarton Shop Took Both Top Prizes

JJR Print works from 3 Poplar Road, next to Dumbarton Central, and its latest accounts list 13 staff, up from 12 a year earlier. The firm traces more than 100 years of local printing back to Alexander Lawrence & Son in Church Street, and still runs litho, digital and wide-format work, including printed greaseproof paper.

McQuade joined in 2021 after deciding not to continue his studies at Glasgow School of Art. He started as a finisher and spent two years learning the business before specialist greaseproof work arrived and pulled him onto press. He now wants to learn the company’s five-colour press.

I didn’t really know what to expect from the apprenticeship modules. Some were more challenging than others, but Jim and Brian were always approachable and supportive. I’ve really enjoyed learning the print side of the business and I’m keen to keep developing my skills and learning more.

Aidan McQuade, Overall Apprentice of the Year, JJR Print

Jim is Jim McKenzie, Print Scotland’s training officer. Brian is Kenyon, named Mentor of the Year on the same night. A commercial printer of this size taking both titles is the clearest picture the awards gave of who actually trains people.

Four West of Scotland Towns Sent Every Winner

Every 2026 trophy went to a shop in the Glasgow hinterland: Dumbarton, Coatbridge, Renfrew and Thornliebank. Luke Ashwood, 21, of Spirit Labels in Renfrew, was not in the room for the group photograph.

THE 2026 PRINT SCOTLAND AWARD WINNERS

Ashwood finished his SVQ Modern Apprenticeship in August and runs digital label work for whisky and other spirits on HP Indigo and Digicon kit. Spirit Labels itself only launched in 2024, and already had the overall winner a year earlier in Ines Hiu Wai Law.

Steven Kelly, 20, left St Andrew’s High School in Coatbridge with two Highers, spent a year looking at options, then sat aptitude tests through Routes to Work that led to Graphic Warehouse. He is two units short of qualifying and is expected to finish by Christmas. His managing director, Richard McCombe, said he has what it takes to go far. McCombe is also vice president of Print Scotland.

Mitchell Rowan took the post-press title at Bell & Bain, the book and journal printer on Burnfield Road in Thornliebank. Richmond thanked sponsors PG Paper, EBB, Antalis, Muller Martini and CCL, plus Ricoh and Premier Paper for the winners’ goody bags. Paper merchant PG Paper posted from the room two days later.

PG Paper was proud to attend and sponsor the @printscotland Networking & Apprentices Awards 2026.

Representing our team were Charles Peter and Nicole McMillan.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!#PGPaper #PrintScotland pic.twitter.com/VzMKIx8IJx

— PG Paper (@PGpaperLtd) October 6, 2026

Sixteen Apprentices for 4,705 Print Jobs

Richmond told the Glasgow gathering the 16 apprentices, and those just out of training, are a reason for optimism. Print Scotland’s own training pages put the risk in blunter terms: succession, not new kit, is what the industry can fail on.

SCOTLAND’S PRINT PIPELINE IN ONE SNAPSHOT

• In training now: 16 apprentices, with several more recently qualified, per Richmond on October 2.
• Print jobs in Scotland: 4,705 people across 340 companies, and turnover of £624 million, in the British Printing Industries Federation facts and figures.
• Typical firm size: 75% of UK print companies employed fewer than 10 people in 2024, which is the pond JJR’s 13-person floor sits in.
• Awards cycle: 2025 was the tenth annual ceremony; Spirit Labels took the overall title that year before this year’s press digital win.

Those BPIF counts of 4,705 print jobs in Scotland make the 16-person intake look like a narrow pipe. Michiel Molenaar, Print Scotland president and managing director of packaging firm Kennedy Smith, said the winners showed the attitude, commitment and ambition the sector needs as it takes on new kit. He also said they stood out because they were engaged, curious, receptive to feedback and willing to take personal responsibility for their own learning.

Scotland Still Pays £3,200 a Print Apprentice

McCombe’s other job title sat over the same table. During Scottish Apprenticeship Week in March, as Graphic Warehouse’s managing director and Print Scotland vice president, he asked how a Scottish apprentice could be worth less than half an English counterpart.

How can a Scottish apprentice be worth less than half of their English counterpart? The qualification level is comparable. The industrial skill level is comparable. But the funding support is nowhere near comparable.

Richard McCombe, managing director of Graphic Warehouse and vice president of Print Scotland

THE TRAINING GRANT PRINT SCOTLAND FLAGGED IN MARCH

Print Scotland called the gap almost £7,000 against the 16-to-19 Scottish rate. In April, Richmond said the Scottish figure sat at about a third of the England and Wales rate, and that a signmaking apprentice is funded at twice the rate of a print apprentice even though much of the training overlaps. He also said people aged 20 or over get a much-reduced training grant, so employers have to make up the rest for older starters.

Two of this year’s named winners sit in that older band on age alone: Kelly is 20, Ashwood is 21. Molenaar warned in March that if apprenticeship pipelines weaken because funding does not match the real cost of training, packaging for food, drink and pharmaceuticals will feel it.

On 24 September, Skills Development Scotland set out a 10% funding increase from 2027-28, an extra £8.8 million across Modern Apprenticeship contribution rates, with stage two of the review due in 2027. The rise covers all frameworks and applies to new starts and people already in training from that financial year. It does not change the grant that paid for the 2026 certificates, and a 10% step does not close a gap Print Scotland still measures in thousands of pounds.

What a Print Scotland Apprenticeship Covers

Print Scotland is the lead apprenticeship training provider for the Scottish print industry, delivering SVQs and Modern Apprenticeship certification against National Occupational Standards. The public-facing framework is the print industry occupations apprenticeship at SCQF Level 5 or 6, with no set entry bar beyond being employed in print in Scotland.

THE SVQ PATHWAYS ON OFFER

• Pre-press, Level 3: digital print, digital artwork and image carrier production.
• Press, Level 3: machine printing, sheet-fed litho, web offset, flexography, screen, gravure and digital.
• Post-press, Level 3: general finishing, case binding and soft binding.
• Other tickets: carton manufacture and print administration, both Level 3.

McKenzie’s line on the same pages is that the programmes sit between classroom learning and the floor. Richmond’s is that apprenticeships are vital to the sustainability and competitiveness of Scottish print. Molenaar, listed as 2026 president, said there are huge opportunities ahead for an innovative, creative print industry in Scotland, and that the industry has to invest in people to take them.

Bell & Bain Still Grows Printers From the Floor

Rowan’s post-press win sits inside the one large employer on the 2026 list. Bell & Bain was founded by James Bell and Andrew Bain on 4 April 1831, which makes it 195 years old this year, and it prints from two Scottish plants for more than 600 clients, including the Open University, Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press. It merged with J. Thomson Colour Printers in 2019.

The firm says the management team began as apprentices, and that most of the current managers started that way. Its own three-year scheme is delivered with Print Scotland and runs through prepress and digital, litho, finishing, administration and engineering. In 2024, Bell & Bain’s Gordon Sally was the first Mentor of the Year, and Jack Clark took post-press. The Thornliebank habit is older than this awards cycle.

So the hidden bench is not a mystery. It is Kenyon on a 13-person Dumbarton floor, McCombe signing off a Coatbridge pre-press apprentice while lobbying on the grant, a Renfrew label shop that did not exist in 2023, and a book printer that has been growing its own managers since before Victoria was on the throne. McQuade is next in line for that five-colour press. The national list behind him still has 16 names on it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Does a Print Scotland Print Apprenticeship Take?

Print Scotland’s SVQ programmes run for 12 to 24 months, with the plan agreed with a qualified assessor and structured support and learning resources supplied alongside the job. That window is separate from Bell & Bain’s own three-year in-house scheme, which still uses Print Scotland as the training partner.

What SCQF Level Is the Print Modern Apprenticeship?

Skills Development Scotland lists the Print Industry Occupations Modern Apprenticeship at SCQF Level 5 or 6, and the Level 6 ticket can include carton manufacturing, print administration, press, pre-press and post-press. The 2026 awards themselves were given as Level 3 SVQ titles in pre-press digital, press digital and post-press.

When Did Print Scotland First Award Mentor of the Year?

Mentor of the Year was presented for the first time in 2024, when Gordon Sally of Bell & Bain won it. Kenyon is the latest holder, and CCL Design’s Steven McKnight took it in 2025, so the mentor prize has now gone to three different shops in three years.

What Do Print Scotland’s Employer Figures Claim?

On its apprenticeship training pages, Print Scotland says 92% of employers report a more motivated workforce, 86% say apprenticeships build relevant skills, and 80% see improved retention. It also says employers can gain between £2,500 and £18,000 per apprentice per year.

The 2026 certificates are already on the walls in Dumbarton, Coatbridge, Renfrew and Thornliebank. The training grant that paid for them is still the March figure.