CONCORD, N.H. March 19, 2008 -- Concord Litho won 15 awards in the 33rd annual International Gallery of Superb Printing competition, which was celebrated at a gala event in Las Vegas this January.

Concord Litho won six Golds, four Silvers, three Bronzes, and two Honorable Mentions for excellence in heat-set web and sheetfed printing for national clients, including Brookstone, TV Guide, Rodale, Friendly's Ice Cream, TD Banknorth, and Disabled American Veterans.
 
Brochures and large-format point-of-purchase display projects brought in a third of Concord Litho's awards, and two featuring silver touchplates brought home Gold. Other winning projects included calendars, interactive magazine inserts with Peel-n-Reveal and scented varnish, art prints, and greeting cards.

More than 2,300 entries were submitted by top printing firms for this year's competition, which is sponsored by the International Association of Printing House Craftsmen (IAPHC), an international trade association for the printing and graphic arts industry.

"The judges of the 33rd International Gallery were duly impressed by the talents of Concord Litho," said Kevin Keane, President of IAPHC. "We have followed Concord Litho's award-winning history … the firm is celebrating 50 years in business and has become well-known as one of America's best run independent commercial printers with a highly creative product and service portfolio."

According to Keane, several panels of printing experts evaluated entries in three rigorous technical rounds, judging the quality and difficulty of the graphic arts processes used -- from ink coverage, intensity of solids, registration and dot structure to paper usage, binding, finishing, degree of difficulty, overall visual appearance and effective communication.


THE PMS 877 "SILVER TOUCH"
A favorite among the judges was Brookstone's high-end iDesire Massage Chair brochure, which was printed on Concord Litho's 7-color KBA large-format sheetfed press with a stunning PMS 877 silver touchplate that helped this project win a Gold award. Two other Concord Litho brochure projects - for TD Banknorth and the Mount Washington Resort - took home Silver awards.

Concord Litho, which prints 50 million calendars annually, also won four awards for calendar projects for the American Lung Association, Disabled American Veterans, and for its own promotional calendar, which won Gold thanks again in part to a PMS 877 silver touchplate. Point-of-purchase display winners included a Gold for an UnderArmour HeatGear Golf display (25-by-51 inches) featuring a unique sunblocking printing process, and a Bronze for Friendly's large-format "Summertime Chillers" standee.

For heat-set web printing, Concord Litho scored another Gold for a high-profile TV Guide magazine insert project that promoted a May Sweeps "Laugh'n'Sniff" episode of NBC's "My Name is Earl." Printed on a 10-unit web press with a 3.5-inch hanger perfed inline, the insert had six scented varnishes (clean laundry, Oreo, cinnamon buns, buttered popcorn, "new car," and stinky men's cologne).

Other standouts include a Gold and Silver for large-format art prints for Applejack Art Partners, an Honorable Mention for an interactive Peel-n-Reveal magazine insert for Rodale, and awards for specialty greeting cards (one that smells like gingerbread cookies, and one that sparkles with GlitterCoat).