Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – NEOGRAPHICS, one of the nation’s largest regional graphic communications competitions, awards and dinner banquet was held on May 2^nd, 2013 at VIE located on 600 North Broad Street, Phildaelphia.  What a night to remember! Over 200 Print Industry professionals and their clients attended the event to network, celebrate the NEOGRAPHICS award winners and to nosh on VIE’s wonderful food. 

NEOGRAPHICS is dedicated to recognizing and rewarding the quality and service that is provided by the graphic arts communications, packaging and converting industries to their worldwide customers. NEOGRAPHICS is managed by the Graphic Arts Association located in Trevose, Pennsylvania. The Graphic Arts Association, a not-for-profit regional print trade association, manages PA, DE and NJ for the Printing Industries of America. 

RIT professor Frank Romano kicked off the 42^nd banquet with his rousing presentation, “Print Is Not Dead.” This presentation walked us through the changing face of print over the decades and how print will continue to be an effective medium in the marketing world.   Douglas P. Yeager of Alcom Printing, Harleysville, PA was then honored as NEOGRAPHICS “Person of the Year”.  Mr. Yeager gave a rousing acceptance speech and also emphasized the importance of print now and in the future and how printing professionals will continue to shape all marketing efforts around the world.  Duane Ober of Intelligencer Printing, Lancaster, PA, accepted the “Craftperson of the Year” Award and modestly thanked everyone in the room for such an honor.  All Franklin and Best of Category Award winners were then officially recognized at the event and encouraged to have photos taken as a memory of their achievement into excellence.  

Finally the four runner-ups and the overall best of show, the Power of Print award winner, were announced and brought up on stage for a group photo. The competition was fierce this year and the top winners were extremely proud that they were recognized as the best talent in the show. Brilliant Studio of Exton, PA captured the Power of Print award.  The four runner ups were as follows: First runner up – Brilliant Studio, Exton, PA; Second runner up – Paradigm Digital Color Graphics, Southampton, PA; Third runner up – The Standard Group, Lititz, PA; Fourth runner up – Riegel Printing, Ewing, NJ. 

NEOGRAPHICS  2013 boasted  over 300 unique entries submitted in nearly 70 categories by over 60 companies.  Judging occured over several days by team of judges who examined the finished products as well as how the job was performed. The number of colors, press size and printing process are used in determining the winners. Overall design, successful completion, prepress preparation, printing and finishing are examined closely. 

Within each category, the judges presented Franklin Awards for Excellence. Each of these awards was then judged in the “Best of Category” competition. The winning “Best of Category” Awards were judged once more to determine the “ Best of the Best” – which was the “Power of Print” Award.