Rochester, New York -- The Gravure Association of America (GAA) has announced the recipients of the 2006 Gravure Persons of the Year Awards. They are Mr. Paul Steen, Director of Print Production, Target; and Mr. John Yuko, General Manager, Resilient Sheet Operations and Technology, Armstrong World Industries. The Gravure Persons of the Year Awards provide recognition and honor to outstanding individuals who have contributed unselfishly to the advancement of gravure in the U.S. or internationally. Proceeds from the Gravure Persons of the Year Award Luncheon support the Gravure Education Foundation (GEF), a non-profit charitable organization. Mr. Steen began his employment at Target, a $50 billion retail company operating over 1,400 stores across the U.S., in 1984, working in both the creative and production areas of marketing. Over the last 20 years, his team has guided the production of the Target newspaper insert program from a small circulation printed both web offset and gravure to a weekly circulation well in excess of 50 million, all printed gravure. While managing the internal print production area at Target, his team worked closely with gravure industry resources to grow their weekly insert program that is now known as the second most widely read part of Sunday newspapers after the comics. Target implemented an extensive paper trialing/testing program for SC papers that has positively influenced suppliers of gravure SC paper in both North America and Europe. Mr. Steen is a member of the GAA’s Gravure Catalog and Insert Council and has continuously been involved with the GCIC conference since its beginnings. He has been active in supporting the GEF through participation and presentations for Gravure Day. Mr. Yuko, General Manager, Resilient Sheet Operations and Technology, Armstrong World Industries, was raised in Western Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Pennsylvania State University with an Associate of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He also received a Master of Arts in Organization Management from the University of Phoenix. John joined Armstrong World Industries in 1984 in the Engineering Department. After several years of design engineering, plant engineering, maintenance management, production management, and business unit management assignments in Armstrong’s Building Product and Floor Product Divisions, he moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to become the Assistant Plant Manager of Armstrong’s Stillwater Flooring Plant. In 2001, John was named Plant Manager of the Stillwater Plant, with a primary focus to expand the operations to include and start up a new hot-melt calendering process and convert the plant to a continuous operation. John returned to Lancaster in 2004 to head up the Armstrong’s Research and Development, Engineering, and Quality Assurance Teams for Armstrong Resilient Floor Products. In November 2005, John moved into his current assignment leading the North American Resilient Sheet Plants, as well as the Research and Development, and Engineering organizations. Mr. Steen and Mr. Yuko will be honored at the Gravure Persons of the Year Awards Luncheon on Monday, October 16, 2006, at The Ritz-Carlton in Chicago, Illinois. The entire printing industry is invited. For more information, please contact the GAA at 585.436.2150. Initiated in 1990 by the GAA, former recipients of the Gravure Person of the Year Award are: • Madame Tere Cerutti, 1990 • John Walter, 1991 • Vito J. Colaprico, 1993 • Lester W. Buechler, 1993 • Edward E. Barr, 1996 • H. Howard Flint, II, 1998 • Christopher M. Little, 2000 • Peter Daetwyler, 2002 • Charles G. Cavell, 2002 • Thomas A. Quadracci, 2004 • Thomas Coker, 2004 The Gravure Education Foundation (GEF) is a non-profit charitable organization. Founded in 1979, the mission of the GEF is to promote and support educational development in gravure technology by raising and properly distributing money and resources to deserving educators, institutions, and students. By doing so, the Foundation will motivate and develop individuals with the technical proficiency and leadership skills for the print communications industry. The Gravure Association of America’s mission is to promote the gravure printing process for publication, packaging, and product printing. Members of the Association include many of the nation’s leading printers, publishers, service houses, and engravers, as well as manufacturers of paper, ink, and presses for the gravure industry.