Countdown to Awards 2019 - 30 August is D-Day– The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

The PrintWeek India Awards add lustre to the reputation of the winners as well as the shortlisted firms. The meticulously chosen entries reveal the vibrancy, innovative streaks and surprises in our industry.

This Sunday Column is about the PrintWeek India Awards, and an invitation to be a part of the Awards Night in 2019

21 Jul 2019 | By Noel D'Cunha

The PrintWeek Awards, the industry's flagship awards scheme, is here. The eleventh edition, the PrintWeek India Awards 2019 is another opportunity to test your mettle against the best the industry has to offer.

There are two sets of categories – the Performance Awards and Quality Awards. The Performance Awards has seven categories and the Quality Awards has 17 categories.

Our aim with the PrintWeek India Awards scheme is: to celebrate excellence in the Indian print.

Is winning everything?

Yes, but for some print companies, it may be only the beginning.

There have been over 150 PrintWeek India Awards winning companies in the past decade. What is it that makes the Award so coveted for these companies that they spend hours selecting, what they think is their best print jobs?

We spoke to a few winners of the previous edition as well as last year’s winners. They cited visibility, credibility, recognition and in some ways more business – all of which translates into money.

Surat-based Jain Offset Print received the Special Jury Award in Packaging Converter of the Year 2016 on the strength of its quality samples which feature fine-textured effects without the use of any chemical. “The category has been dominated by the biggies in packaging printers. It was a big achievement for our firm as well as for printers in Surat,” says Mukesh Jain, partners, Jain Offset Print. The Award encouraged the company to invest in a new press, to meet the quality requirement of its customers. “Honestly, the PWI Award helped us build credibility, which is so important in this extremely competitive market.”

CDC Printers is a winner of multiple editions of the Awards. “The Awards are a seal of approval that our services are valuable to our clients, and a good marketing tools too,” says Manu Choudhary of CDC Printers.

Manish Desai of Mudrika Labels too agrees that there are benefits of participating in the Awards, and winning it. While a product is developed, labels and packaging are always the last ones in the process. The spends are tight. “We are creatively-driven. We believe in creating new products, rather than producing the same things your competition is producing and enter the price war,” says Desai, whose group’s business turnover has grown to Rs 160-crore since Mudrika won the Special Jury Award 2016 for Label – Colgate 3X Buy 2 Get 1 Free.

So, what are you waiting for? Winner or shortlisted, you have a perfect reason to contact your clients and prospects to share the good news. All you have to do is send your best four print jobs as entries for the PrintWeek India Awards 2019 scheme. And you can send multiple entries, which enhances your chances of winning or being shortlisted.

Don’t delay, register now at www.printweekindiaawards.com

Contact my colleague Kalpak Shah at 08169971401

What the Winners of the PrintWeek India Awards 2018 had to say
Hemanth Paruchuri of Pragati – Winner of Innovative Printer of the Year It’s the first time I attended the PrintWeek India Awards, though we have won Awards before. The project we submitted was an eye-testing instrument which would make eye-testing cheaper. We worked with LV Prasad on this project. We did a lot of iterations, which took nine months. It was nice to see the product go into the market, as also win the PrintWeek India Innovative Printer of the Year Award. Sreekumar Menon of Malayala Manorama – Winner of Newspaper Printer of the Year Manorama has always stood for quality printing. I am extremely proud and happy to be a part of this event and having won the Awards. We will be publicising the Award-winning feat, and tell the readers about what we do behind the scenes. I come from the financial side of Manorama management. We face these challenges from new technology and competition we are facing from the new. That said, I want to say that Manorama is a crusader for print, and print is here to stay. Chaitya Shah of DRS – Winner of the Fine Art Printer of the Year It’s the eighth time we are winning the Award, and the PrintWeek India Award is like the Oscars for us. It always feels special winning the Award. I think the Award is an appreciation of the passion and commitment with which we do the work. I like the way the Awards are conducted, from the way the entries are judged by a jury panel comprising of print buyers, creative minds and experts, to the felicitation at the Awards Night. In my opinion, the PrintWeek India Awards truly celebrates excellence in print. Kuldip Goel of Any Graphics - Label Printer of the Year Award It makes me really happy to be declared the Awards winner for Label Printer of the year. It’s the seventh time we have won this prestigious PWI Award. We always say we create labels, and create them putting both our heart and mind to it. It’s not our business, it’s our passion. We send the best four best label works as entries for the Label Awards. The Awards win is just not a celebration of excellence in labels, but also the confidence that our customers repose on us, and liberty to innovate to produce the best. Sujeet and Rajesh Gupta of Archana Advertising – Special Jury Award for Fine Art Printer of the Year Winning the Awards gives us an edge, a boost for the kind of work we do. Obviously, our customers have faith in our ability to produce quality work, but this Award just strengthens that faith and encourages us to do better. The print is a passion for my father, who started this company forty years ago. It now runs in our blood. It’s an interesting business; every job we get is new and challenging. To create a great job, we obviously have to back it very well. A vision has to be created. Every time, we try and create a masterpiece. Jaychandra of Veepee Graphics Solutions – Pre-press Company of the Year We have been nominated for the Awards on three previous editions. This year, we are happy to take the lovely little PWI Prism back home. It will make a huge difference to us. The print is the only business I know. Born in a printing family, right from the young age, we have heard, spoke and thought about has been print. Ayush Jain, Vijayshri Packaging – Winner of SME Printer of the Year It’s our first win and it’s a very special feeling. We will certainly strive and work hard towards getting more these Awards at every edition. Rashmi Ravinarayan and Sonam from Trigon – Winner of Digital Printer of the Year It’s a great feeling being recognised for the excellent work that we do. This is our third win. It’s a pleasant coincidence that PrintWeek India is ten, and so is Trigon. Vinay Nalavade, Parakh Agro – Packaging Converter of the Year The Award is a good stepping stone for the flexible packaging company which is dominated by gravure technology. It’s a first time that a flexo converter has won the Award. We will be participating in the next edition too, and hopefully win an Award there too. Tushar and Uday Dhote – Brochure and Catalogue Printer of the Year It means a lot to us. We were nominated for the Awards in the last four editions and never won it. In 2018, we had three nominations and an Award. It’s a new high for us. For the last four years we have been just coming and attending the Awards, which again was a pleasure, but never took any Award back home. We continued to do our best, and kept on upping our game, and kept on sending our entries. That’s how we have ended on the winning side this time. We are dedicating this Award to our team, who will be elated. It’s a reward for them, for the hard work that they are putting in day in and day out. Quality and consistently delivering quality is the hallmark of our work. We keep on improving our technology and that’s how one can create excellence in print. We created a brochure for AceTech exhibition, which is Asia’s largest exhibition for architecture. It was a seven colour job with lots of embellishments – foiling, UV, MetPET, plus the post-press operation was different from the usual, which would have made our entry the winner. We worked on the pre-press for a month, and we knew this was a winner, hence we called it the mother brochure. The brochure is a work of art, produced by a printer.

What the Winners of the PrintWeek India Awards 2018 had to say

Hemanth Paruchuri of Pragati – Winner of Innovative Printer of the Year

It’s the first time I attended the PrintWeek India Awards, though we have won Awards before. The project we submitted was an eye-testing instrument which would make eye-testing cheaper. We worked with LV Prasad on this project. We did a lot of iterations, which took nine months. It was nice to see the product go into the market, as also win the PrintWeek India Innovative Printer of the Year Award.

Sreekumar Menon of Malayala Manorama – Winner of Newspaper Printer of the Year

Manorama has always stood for quality printing. I am extremely proud and happy to be a part of this event and having won the Awards. We will be publicising the Award-winning feat, and tell the readers about what we do behind the scenes. I come from the financial side of Manorama management. We face these challenges from new technology and competition we are facing from the new. That said, I want to say that Manorama is a crusader for print, and print is here to stay.

Chaitya Shah of DRS – Winner of the Fine Art Printer of the Year

It’s the eighth time we are winning the Award, and the PrintWeek India Award is like the Oscars for us. It always feels special winning the Award. I think the Award is an appreciation of the passion and commitment with which we do the work. I like the way the Awards are conducted, from the way the entries are judged by a jury panel comprising of print buyers, creative minds and experts, to the felicitation at the Awards Night. In my opinion, the PrintWeek India Awards truly celebrates excellence in print.

Kuldip Goel of Any Graphics - Label Printer of the Year Award

It makes me really happy to be declared the Awards winner for Label Printer of the year. It’s the seventh time we have won this prestigious PWI Award. We always say we create labels, and create them putting both our heart and mind to it. It’s not our business, it’s our passion. We send the best four best label works as entries for the Label Awards. The Awards win is just not a celebration of excellence in labels, but also the confidence that our customers repose on us, and liberty to innovate to produce the best.

Sujeet and Rajesh Gupta of Archana Advertising – Special Jury Award for Fine Art Printer of the Year

Winning the Awards gives us an edge, a boost for the kind of work we do. Obviously, our customers have faith in our ability to produce quality work, but this Award just strengthens that faith and encourages us to do better. The print is a passion for my father, who started this company forty years ago. It now runs in our blood. It’s an interesting business; every job we get is new and challenging. To create a great job, we obviously have to back it very well. A vision has to be created. Every time, we try and create a masterpiece.

Jaychandra of Veepee Graphics Solutions – Pre-press Company of the Year

We have been nominated for the Awards on three previous editions. This year, we are happy to take the lovely little PWI Prism back home. It will make a huge difference to us. The print is the only business I know. Born in a printing family, right from the young age, we have heard, spoke and thought about has been print.

Ayush Jain, Vijayshri Packaging – Winner of SME Printer of the Year

It’s our first win and it’s a very special feeling. We will certainly strive and work hard towards getting more these Awards at every edition.

Rashmi Ravinarayan and Sonam from Trigon – Winner of Digital Printer of the Year

It’s a great feeling being recognised for the excellent work that we do. This is our third win. It’s a pleasant coincidence that PrintWeek India is ten, and so is Trigon.

Vinay Nalavade, Parakh Agro – Packaging Converter of the Year

The Award is a good stepping stone for the flexible packaging company which is dominated by gravure technology. It’s a first time that a flexo converter has won the Award. We will be participating in the next edition too, and hopefully win an Award there too.

Tushar and Uday Dhote – Brochure and Catalogue Printer of the Year

It means a lot to us. We were nominated for the Awards in the last four editions and never won it. In 2018, we had three nominations and an Award. It’s a new high for us.

For the last four years we have been just coming and attending the Awards, which again was a pleasure, but never took any Award back home. We continued to do our best, and kept on upping our game, and kept on sending our entries. That’s how we have ended on the winning side this time. We are dedicating this Award to our team, who will be elated. It’s a reward for them, for the hard work that they are putting in day in and day out. Quality and consistently delivering quality is the hallmark of our work. We keep on improving our technology and that’s how one can create excellence in print. We created a brochure for AceTech exhibition, which is Asia’s largest exhibition for architecture. It was a seven colour job with lots of embellishments – foiling, UV, MetPET, plus the post-press operation was different from the usual, which would have made our entry the winner. We worked on the pre-press for a month, and we knew this was a winner, hence we called it the mother brochure. The brochure is a work of art, produced by a printer.