Winners of HP Print Excellence Awards announced

HP has announced the winners of its HP Print Excellence Awards, established to honour the best examples of creativity and print quality produced across HP’s digital portfolio.

The competition recognises print excellence in 21 categories across Commercial Print, Sign and Display, and Labels and Packaging applications. Submissions were open to users of HP Indigo, Inkjet Web Press, Scitex and Designjet systems. The competition attracted entries from 364 customers from 47 countries.

Judging was conducted by an international team of experts: Yolanda Simonsis, editorial director PFFC-online, USA; Jean Poncet, editor in chief, Etiq & Pack, France; Eric Pierre, creative director, BBDO Paris, France; Stan Kilpin, publisher, Cygnet Publications Pty. Ltd., Australia; Boaz Rossano, CEO, Video Dubber, Israel; David L. Zwang, president, Zwang & Co., USA; Stephen Sonnenfeld, VP advertising & brand integration, Thomson Reuters, USA; Nir Navot, art director, Amdocs Israel; and Sophie Matthews-Paul, independent consultant, UK.

Favourable judgements

“It was exciting to see the way print service providers and their customers were able to push the envelope with the HP print technologies, especially the Indigo,” said judge David Zwang. “Offset print has always been the benchmark that people use to set their expectation for quality print. There is no doubt in my mind that the Indigo print entries we saw not only met that level, but exceeded it.”

“It was my honour to participate as a judge,” said Yolanda Simonsis. “I believe the ’tipping point’ for digital in the label and packaging industries will arrive sooner than others anticipated. Digital easily executes complex designs with perfectly registered type so fine you need a loupe to read it, vignettes so subtle and skin tones so lifelike that it now certainly surpasses analogue technologies that struggle to replicate effectively without waste.“

“The HP Print Excellent Awards concentrate on innovation,” said judge Sophie Matthews-Paul. “However, they also look at environmentally responsible printing. We considered how entrants demonstrated creativity and skill. Seeing how the criteria were interpreted in the submissions from different parts of the world was very interesting.”

Awards were categorised by device category and by application type. The judges said that after lengthy discussions, the decisions on all winners were unanimous.

“The response to this competition exceeded our expectations. The quality of the submissions reflected how creative agencies and enterprises benefit from a wide range of applications that PSPs are producing on HP digital presses and printers,” said François Martin, worldwide marketing director, Graphic Solutions Business, HP. “Receiving submissions from nearly 50 countries demonstrates the spread of digital printing around the world as well as confidence in our technologies and innovations. “

HP will present the awards to winners at a celebratory evening in their honour in Düsseldorf on 3 May. First place winners are listed below.

Commercial Print applications first place winners:

Category	Winner	Country	End-customer	Press/ Printer
Direct Mail and Transpromo	Straub + Medien AG	Germany	Straub + Medien AG	HP Indigo
Photobooks â€" Wedding	Kisah Publishing	Indonesia	Â	HP Indigo
Photobooks â€" general	Vovremja!	Russia	Vovremja!	HP Indigo
High Volume Inkjet Printing	One to One Digital Solutions	USA	New Era, Inc.	HP Inkjet Web Press
General Commercial Printing	Kubilay Ofset Ltd	Turkey	Our Own Product	HP Indigo
Publishing	Dygy GmbH	Germany	Novum-World of Graphic Design	HP Indigo

Labels and Packaging first place winners:

Category	Winner	Country	End-customer	Press/ Printer
Wine & Spirits Labels	Gráficas Varias, SA	Spain	Miguel Torres, SA	HP Indigo Â
Food Labels	Label Apeel Ltd	UK	Long Clawson Dairies Ltd	HP Indigo Â
Health & Beauty Labels	Digital Labels Ltd	Israel	LA-labels apps	HP Indigo Â
Pharmaceutical & Nutraceutical Labels	Coreti	Spain	Escritorio Digital	HP Indigo Â
Industrial Labels	Springfield Solutions Ltd	UK	John Myland Ltd	HP Indigo Â
Shrink Sleeves	CMC Group	USA	SJ Creations	HP Indigo Â
Flexible Packaging	Essel Propack Ltd	India	Â	HP Indigo
Folding Cartons	Promographic & Design	Mexico	Nattura Laboratorios, SA de CV	HP Indigo Â
Specialty	Boyallgraphics & Print Ltd	UK	Corporate Hard Hats	HP Indigo Â

Sign & Display first place winners:

Category	Winner	Country	End-customer	Press/ Printer
Outdoor Advertising	CLM BBDO	France	Mercedes-Benz France	HP Scitex
Retail POP/POS	Next Printing	Australia	Next Printing	HP Scitex
Innovative Application	Dpod Ltd	New Zealand	Pea Pods (MacKay Distribution Ltd)	HP Scitex
Vehicle Graphics	Union Inks and Graphics Philippines Inc.	Philippines	Brushstroke Creatives	HP Scitex
Exhibitions & Events	JMD Digital Art Xchange Pvt Ltd	India	Â	HP Scitex
Environmental Responsibility	Golden Touch Color Laboratory and Photo Supply	Philippines	Coca-Cola	HP Scitex

 

More information about HP graphic arts solutions is available at www.hp.com/go/gsb and through the HP Graphic Arts Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/hpgraphicarts and YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/hpgraphicarts.