Ultra Litho dominates at Sappi printing awards

The Gold winners from the African region were selected from among 443 entries from five countries and will compete for the elephant trophies at the Sappi International Printers of the Year event to be held in Boston in October 2007. The Gold awards, chosen from among the Silver award winners, went to:

• Annual Reports – Ultra Litho for the Bidvest Annual Report
  
• Books – Hansa Print for “Forces of Nature”
  
• Brochures – Ultra Litho for “Dullstroom The Polo Estate”
  
• Calendars – Ultra Litho for the “It's a Wild Life” Calendar
  
• Catalogues – Durrant & Viljoen for “Image Volume 10”
  
• General Print – Hot Dot Print for “Port Ghalib Awaken New Senses”
  
• Magazines – Ultra Litho for the BMW April 2006 magazine
  
• Packaging and Labels – Atlas Printers for the Ponds Kit Box

Greenprint for the future

The theme of the evening was “A greenprint for the future” and highlighted the importance of accelerating sustainable printing practices, thereby minimising environmental impact for a greener future.

“Responsibility for the environment not only makes good sense, it is a business imperative,” said Dinga Mncube, MD of Sappi Fine Paper South Africa.

Mncube further elaborated that it is the responsibility of the industry to increase consumers' awareness and provide corporate South Africa with a product that can contribute to their sustainability initiatives.

This year's judging panel comprised Colin Bekker from Standard Bank, Derek de Villiers from Durand and Bowden, Mike Lumb from Mike Lumb Consulting, Koos McDonald from Cross Media Training Centre, Philip van Rensburg from SICPA inks and Erich Kühl from PIFSA (Printing Industries Federation of South Africa).

Silver and Bronze winners

The other Silver award winners were:

• Ince, MSM and Pro-Print in the annual reports category;
  
• Durrant and Viljoen, Intrepid Printers and IPC in the books category;
  
• Graphica, Pro-Print and Trident Press in the brochures category;
  
• Precigraph, Trade Litho and Trident Press in the calendars category;
  
• Fishwicks Printers, Hansa Print and Precigraph in the catalogues category;
  
• Fishwicks Printers, MSM and Trident Press in the general print category;
  
• Paarl Web, Precigraph and PrintAbility in the magazines category;
  
• Durrant and Viljoen, J Ryan Printers and MSM in the packaging and labels category;

The Bronze award winners were:

• Atlas Printers, Hot Dot Print, Ince and Precigraph in the annual reports category;
  
• Graphica, Hansa Print, Pinetown Printers and Ultra Litho in the books category;
  
• Beith Digital, MSM, Pro-Print and Trident Press in the brochures category;
  
• Business Print Centre, MSM, Robprint and VRP Print in the calendars category;
  
• PrintAbility and Ultra Litho in the catalogues category;
  
• Durrant and Viljoen, Fishwicks Printers, Mills Litho and MSM in the general print category;
  
• Durrant and Viljoen, Paarl Web, Precigraph and PrintAbility in the magazines category;
  
• Durrant and Viljoen, J Ryan Printers and Pro-Print in the packaging and labels category;
  
• House of Print in the printer's own promotion category.

Printers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Reunion, South Africa and Uganda participated in the competition.