Neil Felton Honoured with 2025 Girls Who Print Ally Award

FESPA CEO Neil Felton has been named the recipient of the 2025 Girls Who Print Ally Award, in recognition of his leadership of the FESPA Foundation, an initiative launched earlier this year to demonstrate the concept of “Print For Good.” The award acknowledges Felton’s role in using print as a force for positive social impact, particularly in underserved communities.

The FESPA Foundation mobilises exhibiting companies at FESPA exhibitions to produce printed educational materials for schools across South Africa and other underserved regions. Through this initiative, exhibitors contribute to the creation of safer and more supportive learning environments, while highlighting the social value of print within the global industry.

The Girls Who Print Ally Award recognises individuals who actively support equity, inclusion, and positive change across the print and graphic communications sector. In Felton’s case, the award highlights his efforts to leverage print technology to deliver tangible community benefits while inspiring industry-wide participation.

Girls Who Print (GWP), led by Deborah Corn, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing female careers in print and graphic communications. The organisation supports women through education, mentorship, and professional networking, and continues to serve as a prominent advocate for inclusion, progress, and career development within the sector.

FESPA and Girls Who Print collaborated during FESPA Global Print Expo 2025, held in May at Messe Berlin, Germany, to underline their shared commitment to diversity within print. As part of this collaboration, Girls Who Print led a series of speaker sessions at the SmartHub conference, alongside a dedicated networking lunch. These sessions provided FESPA visitors with opportunities to hear directly from female leaders across the print industry and to exchange insights on building careers in a traditionally male-dominated field.

Commenting on the recognition, Neil Felton, CEO, FESPA, said:

“I’m truly honoured to receive the 2025 Girls Who Print Ally Award. We (the FESPA team) were delighted to initiate a partnership with Deborah Corn this year, and to us, this is just the beginning. Girls Who Print is a truly inspirational organisation and we look forward to seeing what is in store for our relationship in the future. This is more than just an award, it’s global recognition for the FESPA Foundation and I am proud to be accepting this on behalf of everyone who has supported us on our journey. Thank you.”

Deborah Corn, Executive Director of Girls Who Print, added:

“Our mission to support women in print throughout their careers will continue in 2026. The ARC and Print University strengthen this mission by expanding our access to experts, education, skill building, mentorship, and professional development. Membership and sponsorship contributions are essential to powering our mission, expanding our offerings, and strengthening our global community. We deeply appreciate the companies that support our work and look forward to welcoming many more in the coming year.”