To foster innovation, PrintWeek Awards introduced the Innovative Printer of the Year Award category in 2019. In 2023, the category was split into two — paper, paperboard, corrugated, and PET, LDPE, HDPE, PVC, PP, PS, metal, and glass — to shed light on innovations taking place at all segments. 

In this category, judges look for a unique product that uses an innovative combination of man and machinery. The submissions in this category can be in any or all of the disciplines — pre-press, printing, post-press, or electronic media.

The products can be anything — an incense stick package reminiscent of a Russian nesting doll; a POP box that expands upon the application of heat; a milk bottle sleeve with shrinkable gold cold foil; an all-PE stand-up pouch; a security merged label with holography, a label that can be converted into a hanger — as our previous winners exemplify. 

Innovative Printer of the Year (Paper/Paperboard/Corrugated)
In 2023, Mumbai-based Perfect Packaging and Chennai-based ITC Packaging and Printing Business were the joint winners in the category.

Perfect Packaging won for its Satya Agarbatti pack, reminiscent of a Russian nesting doll because the inner packaging was similar to the outer packaging in terms of design. The product was designed using Adobe Photoshop and CorelDraw with four colours plus two special colours. The design included vintage Indian paintings, wave patterns, and a Victorian standard font. The sample used technologies like thermal velvet lamination, gold UV foiling, and silver CC metPET printing. 3,000 sets of this sample were produced.

ITC Packaging and Printing won for its POP box for Zee Maize. This was a package that had a compressed, microwaveable pop-up technology. The package was designed such that the carton box would expand upon the application of heat. The sample was printed on 220-gsm Cyber XL Pack board with an elite aqueous varnish and had precise folding. A total of two-lakh cartons were produced.

Innovative Printer of the Year (PET, LDPE, HDPE, PVC, PP, PS, Metal/Glass)
At the 2023 edition of the Awards, the title was shared by Sai Packs India (Pune), and TCPL Packaging (Mumbai), with Noida-based Any Graphics receiving a special mention from the jury.

Sai Packs India was recognised by the jury for its milk bottle sleeves, which used shrinkable gold cold foil specifically developed for the gold effect on shrink sleeves. The sleeves featured a surface-printed matte effect and surface-printing gold foil. The sample was printed on 40-micron cast PVC, with CMYK plus white plus shrinkable gold foiling plus matte UV on the surface. 10,000 shrink sleeves were produced.

TCPL Packaging won for its one-kg whey pouch for Bunzl Verpakkingen Arnhem BV. It was an all-PE stand-up pouch with an Aplix zipper (velcro) and overall matt coating. The product was printed on a rotogravure machine. 

Any Graphics received a special mention from the jury for a security merged label that employed a holography technology to combat counterfeiting.

Winners in 2022 and 2019
At the 2022 edition of the Awards, when the two categories listed here were combined, Mumbai-based Viraj Graphics clinched the title. The jury recognised the company for the Kalopsia technology that made it possible to create custom tiles with the choice of design and texture, where embossing and debossing effects could be accentuated easily.

In 2019, the jury awarded the title of Innovative Printer of the Year to Letra Graphix. The company submitted a Ceftriaxone Injection Hanger Label for Astral Steritech. This was a label that could be converted into a hanger. It was designed for the pharmaceutical industry to stop the use of plastic while hanging the bottle. The label is designed in such a way that it has a hanger-shaped cut to hang the bottle. The label was printed on polyethene terephthalate (PET) white film using a Gallus 10-colour press.

In the same year, the jury also made a special mention in this category — for Eemerge. The company was recognised for a combination of printing and corrugation. The frame it submitted had a display technique, which could be used as a work of art for photography and commercial display. In this, you could view the image from one extreme and then without stopping in the centre, you could move to the other extreme. After viewing the image from both extremes, you can come to the centre and get a third perspective of the same image.

PrintWeek Awards 2024
The registration process for the 14th edition of the PrintWeek Awards is online. If you’ve not registered yet, enter now. The fee for the same will be Rs 3,000 + taxes. After that, the fee will be Rs 4,000 + taxes. The deadline for submissions is 31 July. The Awards Night for the 14th edition will be hosted on 23 September at The Westin Powai Lake, Mumbai. Participants can register for the Awards by clicking here.