Label Awards: A Hard Day’s Night
Label awards competitions can be rewarding experiences, not just for the the winning companies, but for the judges, too. That’s because whenever a group of people brings together a high level of knowledge and skill and then works hard to accomplish a task, it usually has a job-well-done payoff.
That’s the case with TLMI’s annual Label Awards competition. According to Pat Hague, Awards Competition Committee judge and vice president of sales for Water Ink -Technologies, Inc., the judges are working harder and harder each year because the contin-ual improvements in quality are making the judging more and more of a challenge. “It’s getting tougher to make a group decision on winning entries, especially the Best of Show winner,” he explains. “It’s taking longer because of the number of high-quality candidates.”
Steve Lee, committee chair and vice president of RotoMetrics, agreed saying, “the selection of the winning entries comes down to a fine line. The overall quality was very, very good.”
The 2008 competition enjoyed a typically high level of participation. A total of 51 companies submitted entries—43 North American and eight international. Of the 310 total entries (263 North American, 47 international), 77 award winners were selected including 51 first-place honors.
Lee offered some general observations of this year’s contest. “We are seeing more digital printing each year,” he noted, “and a growing number of packaging entries. We are seeing some very nice work on flexible packaging.” He also made the point that this year’s grand prize winner was, once again, a first-time Best of Show winner.
All the marbles
Talk about synergy! Rochester, N.Y.-based Label World submitted one entry and took home two awards. Its “Parkside Smoked Cheddar Sesame Crisps 1 oz.” entry won first place in the Digital Printing - Food & Beverage Products category, and then went on to beat stiff competition as Best of Show.
According to Label World, the label was part of a new product launch and was printed on silver metalized pressure-sensitive paper to provide a simulated gold. The image was backed with three spots of white ink for opacity on the balance of the label. It was finished with a full overprint of scuff-resistant UV varnish. The label was printed on an HP Indigo WS4050 digital press and varnished and diecut on a Rotoflex VERICUT system.
Other big winners in the North American categories included McDowell Label & Screen Printing and Multi-Color Corp. McDowell won a total of 10 awards, including four first-place awards and six second-place honors. Multi-Color took home seven awards, with five firsts and two seconds.
In the International categories, -Germark, S.A. won four first-place awards. Labelgraphics (Glasgow) Ltd. also captured four awards including three firsts and one second-place award. Just like Label World, Labelgraphics took home an award for each of its entries. pP
(Download the Related PDF at right to see all of the winners.)
