Gold, silver and bronze awards were conferred to printers in nine categories namely — annual reports, books, brochures, calendars, catalogues, magazines, packaging and labels, general print and printer’s own promotion. India won four bronze, one silver, and two gold awards. 

While Pragati Offset bagged gold award in the packaging and labels category, Thomson Press won gold in the digital printing category. The lone silver also fell in Pragati’s kitty for its entry in the printer’s promotion category. It also won a bronze each for its submissions in the annual reports, calendar and book categories. Manipal Press collected a bronze under the books (web) category.

Congratulating the winners and calling them an inspiration to the global printing fraternity, Wayne Rau, CEO, Sappi Trading said: “India is a very strong player in the printing industry globally. A fact that gets further established by the seven awards won by the country, apart from several silvers and golds won by Indian printers at the Sappi Awards.”

P Narendra, director, Pragati Offset whom we thought would be elated after winning five awards was surprisingly a ‘bit disappointed’ at missing another Gold at the awards. He said: “We were looking for a gold in the calendar’s category as well, so we are a bit disappointed. The reason for printing a calendar with several innovations is because we wanted it to be our flagship entry to compete against the international printers. At the same time, the awards won for different categories testify that we are a good commercial printer across categories. We have won the Elephants earlier too and inshallah we expect to win it again this year”.

Notably, the digital printing category was swept by Asian printers. Commenting on it, Rau said: “Digital printing market has not taken off globally as everyone expected. However, in the last half-a-decade, Asian markets have taken the leading as far as installations of digital printers are concerned. I have no doubt that in another decade or so, Asia will be the leader in the digital printing market. This is because Asian markets are generally very digitally oriented,” he added.

“This is an India shining moment and as the years go by you would see lot of gold and silver awards coming our bay. We all take printing very seriously, the market is growing and so is the demand for quality. The awards we won represent the quality of work we have put in, and therefore, we are sure that we have a great chance at winning the Elephant as well,” Jassawala ofThomson Press.

Shashi Ranjan, vice president and SBU head, Manipal Technologies, shared the credit with his customer, Conde Nast India. “Getting honoured for a work on a platform that compares you with international competitors speaks volumes about the quality of work that is done in India. However, the honour has to be shared with the customer as well, because it is them who set the quality acceptance level. Both convertor and the client should be serious and aware about quality standards followed worldwide.”

Now, Pragati and Thomson would tussle with finalists from other regions for Sappi International Printer of the Year awards in their respective categories. Winners would be awarded the Elephant trophy which has long been considered as a sign of printing excellence by printers across continents.

Gold winners in the eleven categories from Asia are:

​Category	​Region	​Printer	​Entry
​Books	​Asia	​Everbest Printing Co Ltd	​Walking In The Light
​Brochures	​Asia	​Red & Blue Color Printing Co Ltd	​Mercedes-Benz (The SLS AMG)
​Digital Print	​Asia	​Thomson Press (India) Limited	​Photo Book Hard Case
​General Print	​Asia	​Colorprint Offset	​Extravagant Simplicity
​Magazines - Sheetfed	​Asia	​Percetakan Zanders Sdn Bhd	​GMT Malaysia Edition 2011 issue
​Packaging and Labels	Asia​	​Pragati Pack	​Black Dog 21 Years-Monocarton

Silver winners in the eleven categories from Asia are:

​Category	​Region	​Printer	​Entry
​Books	​Asia	​Leo Paper Products Limited	​Thomas the Tank Engine
​Brochures	​Asia	​Dongguan Yinxin Printing Factory	​GZIPP-10th <2010-2011>
​Catalogues	​Asia	​C&C Joint Printing Co, (Guangdong) Ltd	​Longines
​Digital Print	​Asia	​Metromedia Technologies Sdn Bhd	​My European Escapade
​Magazines - Sheetfed	​Asia	​Interprint Prepress Service	​Vogue 100
​Magazines - Web	​​Asia	​Toppan Printing Co HK Ltd	​Cosmopolitan HK Edition No 324 - Beauty & Health
​Printer's Own Promotion	​Asia	​Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd	​Pragati Wall Calendar 2010

Bronze winners in the eleven categories from Asia are:

​Category	​Region	​Printer	​Entry
​Annual Reports	​Asia	​Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd	​HIKAL Limited - Annual Report 2010
​Books	​Asia	​Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd	​One Eyeland Book - Vol 1
​Brochures	​Asia	​San Sing Tang Graphic Design	​Singing along the Path (Creative Photography by Timothy Huang)
​Calendars	​Asia	​Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd	​IFF Senses - 2011 Table Calendar
​Catalogues	​Asia	​Color Printing Co Ltd	​Audi A5 Coupe
​General Print	​Asia	​China Color Printing Co Ltd	​Stamp Yearbook 2010
​Magazines - Sheetfed	​Asia	​Pt Printindo Utama	​Time Place
​Magazines - Web	​​Asia	​Manipal Press Ltd	​Vogue India (Edition Dec 2011)
​​Printer's Own Promotion	Asia​	​Pt Printindo Utama	​Calendar 2012