Sappi North America Announces Winners of 2017 Printer of the Year Competition

BOSTON – August 15, 2017 – Sappi North America, a leading producer and supplier of diversified paper and packaging products, today announced the 12 Gold Award winners of its annual North American Printer of the Year contest. Regarded as the world's most respected accolade of excellence in printed communications, this award recognizes superior innovation and creativity in print across 11 categories for work produced on Sappi papers. The 2017 winners were chosen as the most outstanding print submissions from nearly 1,500 entries.

"We are impressed year after year with the innovative techniques that printers incorporate into their projects. While all the submissions are worthy of praise, this year’s winners truly caught our attention with their attention to detail," said Patti Groh, Director of Marketing Communications, Sappi North America. "Our Printer of the Year competition showcases the incredible power of print to inspire and influence purchasing decisions."

Lithographix, Inc., a premier offset and grand format printer, is this year's 2017 Printer of the Year award winner. Based in Hawthorne, Calif., the printer was selected for the book “The 4th Phase Field Guide”, printed for Red Bull Media House, which highlights a beautiful collection of images shot during an epic four year, 16,000 mile journey across the picturesque North Pacific region.  Printed on Sappi McCoy Silk paper, the book features legendary snowboarder Travis Rice, and was later adapted into an action movie.

According to judge Jim Tenorio, professor emeritus in the Cross-Media Graphics Management Program at University of Wisconsin-Stout, the piece was chosen for a number of reasons: "The printer did a great job reproducing black and white and full-color images. They matched color and tone across long full-page spreads,” he said. “It was impressively bound with colored edges and cloth siding that complemented the body of the book. The project used a great combination of format and page size that skyrocketed the impact of the broad, beautiful horizontal and vertical landscape photography that was extensive in the book.”

Lithographix will receive $20,000 to support branding and marketing initiatives, as well as up to 5,000 pounds of Sappi paper. The Gold Award winners, each chosen for their dedication to craft and meticulous eye for detail, will receive 5,000 pounds of paper  as well as an award for the featured client.

A panel of highly regarded print professionals selected the winning entries based on the overall impact of the piece, degree of difficulty in printing techniques, and technical excellence. The winners of Sappi's North American Printer of the Year award competed in a variety of categories, including Books, Brochures, Direct Mail and Catalogs. Sappi introduced two new categories to this year’s awards: Packaging and Activated Print. The following companies represent the gold winners of this year’s competition.

 
To ensure the highest possible standards and integrity, this year's judging panel was comprised of judges from recognized print institutions and trade professions, including: Lauren Elliot, Principal of Wicked Good Print Production; Ken Lantz,SVP, Director of Print Operations at FCB Health Network; Dr. James K. Tenorio, professor emeritus in the Cross-Media Graphics Management Program at University of Wisconsin-Stout, Wisconsin's Polytechnic University; and John Tenwinkel, program manager at Shutterfly.

Sappi's North American Printer of the Year winners will also gain increased visibility with current and potential clients by being featured on their own page in Sappi's Printers of the Year Online Resource. This unique and searchable database for designers, print buyers and corporations provides information about the award-winning printers and their capabilities, printing equipment and location. The database is available here.

ENDS

About Sappi North America

Sappi North America, headquartered in Boston, is a market leader in converting wood fiber into superior products that customers demand worldwide. The success of our four diversified businesses – high quality Coated Graphic Papers, Specialised Cellulose, Release Papers and Specialty Packaging – is driven by strong customer relationships, best-in-class people and advantaged assets, products and services. Our high quality Coated Graphic Papers, including McCoy, Opus, Somerset and Flo, are the key platform for premium magazines, catalogs, books and high-end print advertising. We are a leading manufacturer of Specialised Cellulose used in a wide range of products, including textile fibers and household goods, and one of the world's leading suppliers of Release Papers with our Ultracast, PolyEX, Classics and Neoterix lines for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries. Our Specialty Packaging products, such as LusterPrint and LusterCote, represent an important asset in the food packaging and labeling industries. Customers rely on Sappi for high technical, operational and market expertise; products and services delivered with consistently high quality and reliability; and, state-of-the-art and cost-competitive assets and innovative spirit.

Sappi North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 12,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 150 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at: www.sappi.com.