Print tradition

Star News Group director Ian Thomas with awardees Suzana Kostovski, Lisa Wardle, Liam Carter and Brienna Snare, and Roger Hall from the Rotary Club of Narre Warren. 31571

By Elizabeth Hart
A SCHOLARSHIP tradition in print media continued on Thursday 28 May in the name of former proprietor of the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette, Herb Thomas, marking a 25-year milestone.
Four students studying in the print and media field received awards for excellence at the 25th annual Herb Thomas dinner, held this year at the Dandenong Club.
The 2009 winners were Lisa Wardle, Brienna Snare, Liam Carter, and Suzana Kostovski. They are among 100 recipients of the award since the trust was set up.
Star News Group director Ian Thomas said the quality of entrants was always high, and this year they had been of a particularly high standard.
Mr Thomas congratulated the winners and thanked the trust managers, the Rotary clubs of Berwick, Narre Warren, Endeavour Hills, and Pakenham, and the City of Casey and Cardinia Shire.
He said the continuation of the award meant a great deal to the Thomas family.
This year’s awards went to a professional writing student from Chisholm Institute of TAFE in Berwick, a journalism student from Monash University Berwick, and students from RMIT communications and print graphics courses.
The prize money, at $1200, is among the most prestigious in the state for print media students.
The winners have to use the money to further their careers in the print industry.
Chisholm graduate Lisa Wardle said she had always wanted to be a writer, and the professional writing and editing diploma had started her on that pathway. She would use part of the money for further study, she said.
Monash journalism graduate Brienna Snare said the award came as a surprise, and she was grateful to the trust.
She is now a journalist in Tasmania, and she would use the prize money for a shorthand course.
The RMIT recipients, Liam Carter from Ringwood and Suzana Kostovski from Thomastown, said they were proud to be among the four 2009 winners.
The Herb Thomas Memorial Trust was set up in 1979 to honour the memory and work of Gazette proprietor and editor Herb Thomas, who died that year.