WESTLAND PRINTERS, a company located in Laurel, MD, has earned the Grand Q, the highest award in the 8th annual Excellence in Print awards competition. The contest is sponsored by the Printing & Graphics Association MidAtlantic (PGAMA) to recognize the outstanding work of printing and graphic communications companies throughout Maryland, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Southern Pennsylvania.

Commercial printers, engravers, embossers, binders and finishers, designers, and others in the industry enter the competition to showcase their specialized skills, and to vie for the honor of being named Best of Category, and ultimately Best in Show (the Grand Q award recipient.) Winning is a coveted achievement, and award recipients use the recognition to further market their services in the highly competitive industry.

From hundreds of entries, an independent judging team selected the very best pieces based on qualities such as precision of color reproduction, use of design, and level of difficulty.  Awards were divided by the media type and process, as well as the type of press on which the item was created.

This year, 236 winners were named and 66 Best of Category Award were presented during the Excellence in Print Awards Gala on March 22nd at Martin’s West in Woodlawn, MD. The complete list of Best of Category and Award of Excellence winners is on the following page.

In addition to the Grand Q for Westland Printers, other special awards were presented to area firms, including:

• Best Use of Color—MOSAIC (Cheverly, MD)
• Best Use of Photography—Westland Printers (Laurel, MD)
• Judges’ Choice Award—Independent Can Company (Belcamp, MD)
• The People’s Choice Award, selected by attendees of the Gala—GraphTec (Jessup, MD)
• Best Binding & Finishing Q—Advantage Book Binding, Inc. (Glen Burnie, MD)
• Digital Q, for best work created on a digital press: Printing Specialist (Glen Burnie, MD)

PGAMA is a non-profit trade organization that promotes and supports the graphic communications industry. Membership is open to printing and graphic communications firms and suppliers located in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Southern Pennsylvania.  The Association headquarters are in Columbia, MD. For more information, contact Kerry C. Stackpole, CAE at PGAMA ([email protected]), 410-319-0900/877-319-0906.

In addition to the awards noted above, the following companies also earned award in PGAMA’s 2012 Excellence in Print competition:

For more information or to receive digital photos of award winners, please contact
Kerry Stackpole at PGAMA, 410-319-0900 or 877-319-0906.