Proudly South African applauds excellence in local printing and publishing industry

Serious about redressing the imbalances of the past by providing all schools with quality, updated textbooks, government's expenditure on books in 2003 is set to be nearly triple that of the previous year as a new syllabus is being phased in for Grades one to three.

This has resulted in the local printing and publishing industry becoming increasingly competitive as new players are entering the market in an attempt to capitalise on these growth opportunities.

Cambridge University Press, the world's pre-eminent publisher of educational and reference books, has emphasised the excellence of the local printing and publishing industry by using only local suppliers for the production of their books in South Africa. Most recently, this branch has also achieved Proudly South African status to emphasise its commitment to supporting local authors, illustrators, translators, repro houses, printers and editors.

Says Colleen McCallum, Sales and Marketing Director of Cambridge University Press, "We are confident in the capabilities of South Africa's print and publishing industry to continue producing high-quality, publications. In the past we have struggled with the perception that Cambridge University Press is a British publisher merely importing books. However, all our local books for the African / Caribbean branch are entirely written and produced from South Africa.

"By publicising our new Proudly South African status we will now be able to take an important step forward in marketing our titles to the local educational sector."

According to McCallum, the South African publishing industry has grown substantially over the last few decades, with South African publishers having trained up a large and very competent pool of local authors and editors. Many local illustrators are of international quality with a few of them having won prestigious international awards. In addition, infrastructure is sufficiently sophisticated, with the quality of printing and repro being on par with the best in the world.

By keeping production local, Cambridge University Press's African/ Caribbean branch has also been able to pass on the business benefits to other players in the value chain, which ultimately enhances employment creation across the entire paper, printing and publishing sector.

Says Martin Feinstein, the Chief executive of the Proudly South African campaign, "We applaud Cambridge University Press's efforts to support South Africa's printing and publishing industry, as this remains an important sector for employment creation. Many smaller publishers have fallen by the wayside during the last few years as it has become difficult to sustain the enormous start-up costs as well as the investments required for marketing promotion. Through the Proudly South African campaign we hope to alleviate some of these pressures to enable them to continue growing their presence in the local market and facilitate ongoing skills training."

Henceforth, Cambridge University Press will apply the Proudly South African logo on all their schoolbooks produced for the South African market, as well as in all publicity for their books.