Bravo! Bravo!

One big round of applause for McDowell Label and Screen Printing, the 2003 TLMI Best of Show Award winner.

For more than 26 years, the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) has been hosting its annual awards competition. With numerous entry categories, a variety of companies enter multiple times. This year proved to be no different.

With 273 entries, it's no wonder the judges continue to comment on how difficult it is to select category winners. "The show continues to get better each year," noted Mike Buystedt, judge and director of new market development at Azko Nobel Inks. "The labels achieve better quality, making it more difficult to judge. They are becoming more technical and well done."

Steve Lee, chair of the TLMI Awards Competition Committee and vice president of RotoMetrics, agreed with Buystedt. "There was more diversity in the labels and printing products entered this year."

This diversity opened the door to a wider array of companies taking home awards. "In the past, the winners would be just a few companies who won multiple times. Now, the winning is more spread out," stated Buystedt.

With the increasing quality and technical difficulty among entries, choosing the Best of Show is the judges' toughest decision. According to Buystedt, it was a very close contest. Roy Webb, judge and national sales manager of Mark Andy, Inc., agreed, "There were some close matches with other labels. But when the judges went to vote, the majority went with McDowell."

McDowell's Best of Show winning entry, "frosted marshmallow," was one of the company's three first place category winners, taking top honors in the Multi-Process-Line and Screen/Tone-Prime category. In the eyes of the judges, this entry's quality and degree of difficulty separated it from the other close contenders. Webb observed, "McDowell Label and Screen Printing's entry was beautifully done. It was an excellent piece of work, with the register well done. The separations were beautiful. We kept looking for errors with it, but to be honest, we just couldn't find any."

Beyond this, the label also brought in a high degree of difficulty, one criteria especially noted by the judges. "The label was printed in combination flexo and screen with a UV coating. This makes it increasingly more difficult, than say a wine label that is printed in offset, because printing in combination flexo and screen is very difficult. McDowell was able to print this difficult label, while achieving excellent quality," explained Buystedt.

There were other top winners this year as well, with 30 first place, 21 second place, and 30 honorable mention honors awarded to both North American and international entries. TAPP Technologies with six total awards, Collotype Labels Pty, Ltd. with five, and Schreiner GmbH & Co. KG with four, each won three first place honors in separate categories.

Buystedt summed up the competition. "They are making quality standard."

by: Joy English