Here's What it Takes to Impress the Excellence Awards Judges

The packagePRINTING Excellence Awards panel of judges viewed nearly 200 entries.

The deadline to enter the 32nd annual packagePRINTING Excellence Awards is coming up soon and we want to see your best work! Each year, the Excellence Awards entries get more impressive and are always indicative of the latest packaging industry trends. Last year's entries were no exception, and our judging panel of industry experts shared their comments on what stood out to them. Click here to enter this year's competition today.

ProAmpac won Best of Show in the 2017 packagePRINTING Excellence Awards for this flexible pouch.

Last year's competition offered some particularly intriguing results, with a strong showing from the flexible packaging segment (including the Best of Show winner). The 2017 event also demonstrated just how far digital printing has come, with impressive graphics represented in all segments. According to Mark Mazur, an Excellence Awards judge and the 2009 inductee to the Flexographic Technical Association's Hall of Fame, the wide-web packaging applications and the digitally printed ones can now compete toe-to-toe with the other categories.

“What really stands out to me is the increase in digital print and the quality of that digital print,” Mazur said. “It’s at the point that it’s really hard to tell the good digital from the good offset. It’s really gotten that good. The wide web flexible packaging work was all excellent. I’m always impressed with the work the wide web flexible packagers do.”

The flexible packaging application that took home Best of Show was lauded by the entire panel for the high-quality graphics the printer achieved on a challenging substrate. The pouch, which was submitted by ProAmpac, was produced for Sunrise Growers, an organic frozen fruit supplier.

“This entry was deservedly awarded first place and Best of Show as it was printed exceptionally well on a very difficult substrate,” Bill Enright, senior application engineer for Mark Andy, said. “It featured very clean printing with very tight registration. The very nice use of screening gave the blueberries, strawberries and cherries depicted a vivid, almost 3D, lifelike appearance.”

The judging panel was also particularly impressed by packaging applications that combined high-quality printing with eye-catching embellishments. For example, Michael Eichler, director of print technology for KBA North America, said the Kavi Reserve whisky label submitted by ASL Print FX demonstrated excellent printing, finishing and embellishments, all in a single label.

ASL Print FX earned third place in the 2017 packagePRINTING Excellence Awards for this label printed for Kavi Reserve Canadian Whisky.

“This label contains fine delicate patterns which were all printed clean and in excellent quality,” he said. “Further enhancements with coating, gold foil and embossing are in excellent register with the printed artwork, and the final diecut is in perfect position and finishes this label up well.”

Do you have what it takes to impress this year's judges? Click here to enter the 32nd annual packagePRINTING Excellence Awards!