Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Printing Industries of America contributed to a successful graphic communications contest at the SkillsUSA Championships held June 23–26 in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to helping conduct the national competition, Printing Industries of America (PIA) sponsored a breakfast for competitors and their advisors and took the students on a tour of a local printing company.
 
The national contest was limited to state champions and required competitors to create files, preflight them, solve production planning scenarios, print work on sheetfed offset and digital presses, cut and fold a printed job to specifications, participate in an oral interview, and take an online test to assess their overall graphic communications knowledge.
 
Remarkably, the contest area was larger than many printing establishments, featuring six digital presses, three sheetfed offset presses, three folders, a programmable cutter, a dozen computer workstations, and interview and testing areas. The competitors were joined by judges, committee members, and a gallery of anxious parents and instructors.
 
The competition committee was chaired by Mike Stinnett, retired educator from Royal Oak (Mich.) High School, and Kip Jarrett of Heidelberg USA. In addition to PIA, other companies providing funding, staff, or equipment were Baumfolder, Graphic Arts Education and Research Foundation, Heidelberg USA, Preferred Marketing Solutions, Publishers Press, R.R. Donnelley, Ricoh USA, Quad/Graphics, and Xerox.   
 
The 2015 high school medalists in graphic communications:

• Gold—Chandler Kerr, Center of Applied Technology North (Severn, MD)
• Silver—Alexander Westbrooks,  Dubiski Career High School (Grand Prairie, TX)
• Bronze—Emily Woods, Monmouth County Vocational School-Wall (Wall, NJ) 

• Gold—Tiffany Vang, Riverside Community College (Riverside, CA)
• Silver—Jason Horn, Illinois Central College (East Peoria, IL)
• Bronze—Kalon Stephens, Tulsa Technology Center-Sand Springs, (Sand Springs, OK)

SkillsUSA is a nonprofit association representing students and advisors in trade, industrial, technical, and health occupational education. The annual Championships recognize the achievements of career and technical education students and encourage them to strive for excellence and pride in their chosen occupation. The 2016 Championships will be held June 21–24, also in Louisville.