06 May 2004 -- Düsseldorf - Sappi today announced the winners of its prestigious 2004 Sappi European Printer of the Year awards at a spectacular gala award ceremony just north of Düsseldorf. Thirty-seven printers, from 13 countries across Europe and the Middle East, were honoured with gold, silver and bronze awards for commercial work submitted in seven award categories. These were Annual Reports, Books, Brochures, Calendars and Posters, General, Magazines and Packaging and Labels. One additional company won Sappi's newly introduced Printer's Award, recognising printers' own promotional work. The annual Sappi awards, which are judged by an international panel of independent experts from the printing industry, recognise the best technical skills of Europe's printers. This year's winners were selected from 1,812 entries submitted by 782 printers from 34 countries. More than 300 guests, including leading figures from Europe's print and paper industry, attended the award ceremony at the 'Gasometer' in Oberhausen. Welcoming the guests, Sappi Chief Executive Officer, Jonathan Leslie, said: "On the eve of Drupa, the Sappi European Printer of the Year awards have once again demonstrated the breadth and depth of creativity and talent among printers here." "The judges said that the general standard of the entries was exceptionally high and that, at the top level, it was very difficult to choose between the winners. We therefore salute the remarkable achievements of today's winning printers who can be proud that they represent the vanguard of the European printing industry." The gold awards The judges chose six gold award winners out of a total of 40 awards shared between the printers. Italian company Fontegrafica, from Cinisello Balsamo, last year's Sappi International Printer of the Year, walked away with three awards, the most ever presented in one year to a single printer. Another Italian company, Mediaprint from Milan, won the Printer's Award. The six gold award winners will now go forward to compete for the titles of Sappi European Printer of the Year and Sappi International Printer of the Year in Cape Town, South Africa, in October. The gold award winners were: Antilope for 'Rallé - Master of the Town of Consuls' Printer Antilope from Lier, Belgium, took the gold award in the Books category for its entry 'Rallé - Master of the Town of Consuls' featuring the paintings and drawings of the Macedonian artist. The book was printed sheetfed offset in four colours on 170g/m2 Magno Satin and 150g/m2 Magno Star paper from Sappi, with spot and UV varnishes, foil blocking, die stamping, special folding and binding. The judges described the entry as "full of technical excellence, with special treatment and perfect binding. Printed using a stochastic screen, some of the pictures are partly varnished and some contain die-stamped windows which, when opened, provide additional information. A book to make you happy." Fontegrafica for 'The world is a stage' A large, shiny silver-pink hard-covered brochure titled 'The world is a stage', produced for cosmetics manufacturer Intercos, helped Fontegrafica win its gold award. With the theme 'a vision of make-up for the future', the spiral-bound publication combined striking colour images of fashion models, everyday objects and cosmetics with a formidable array of printing and finishing techniques. These included the use of pearlescent, spot and offset varnishes, metallic inks, holographic lamination, foil blocking, embossing and die stamping. Fontegrafica printed the brochure using sheetfed offset and flexo in up to eight colours on 350g/m2 Hello Silk and 170g/m2 and 300g/m2 Hello Gloss paper. According to the judges, this entry really had the "wow!" factor. It's dramatic use of a wide variety of substrates and printing techniques made it stand out from the competition. The level of detail, embellishment and creative use of foils and varnish made the end-product outstanding. They added that the customer must have been "over the moon!". Color Offset for '2004 Giesecke & Devrient' Color Offset from Munich, Germany, picked up the gold award for Calendars and Posters with its 2004 calendar for banknote company Giesecke & Devrient, printed sheetfed offset in four colours on 300g/m2 Hello Matt paper. With the title 'the fabric of world trade', each page featured the evolution of a particular currency and had a real bank note attached to it. The judges praised the category as a whole for its creativity and the techniques used to produce "true works of art". They said that the Giesecke & Devrient entry's original design and practical format enabled it to present an interesting history of money via a real calendar for everyday use. The entry was very well produced, using a stochastic screen, metallic inks, spot varnish and embossing, in addition to the bank notes. Rapu for 'Catálogo VicBox' In the General category, Spanish printer, Rapu, from Granollers, near Barcelona, won the gold award for its product catalogue for VicBox, a manufacturer of luxury boxes and cases for jewellery and other valuables. Rapu used sheetfed offset to print the catalogue in four colours on 200g/m2 and 250g/m2 Magno Satin paper from Sappi, using a variety of spot, offset and UV varnishes, foil blocking and die stamping. The judges said that, although many of the entries in the category did not make use of the latest technology or finishing techniques, the VicBox catalogue was a nicely produced, high quality publication with interesting varnishes, blocked gold solids and die stamping. Medialis Offsetdruck for 'Squint 02/night' Squint 02/night, a magazine full of edgy, nighttime photographs by leading fashion photographers, won the gold award for Medialis Offsetdruck from Berlin, Germany. The magazine was printed sheetfed offset in four colours on 135g/m2 Magno Pearl paper from Sappi, with a 300g/m2 Magno Pearl laminated cover. According to the judges, the entry was chosen because "each of its 200 pages was very well printed using a stochastic screen with deep blacks and excellent registration. Every picture of fur, leather, a baby's skin, hair was perfect. Although the magazine did not use any special additional techniques, the printing was excellent." Drukkerij Vrijdag for 'Tatiana Mandarin cigar box' Drukkerij Vrijdag, from Eindhoven, The Netherlands, once again picked up the gold award in Packaging and Labels. The company won the category in 2002 and was placed second last year. Its Tatiana Mandarin cigar box for the Miami Cigar Company was printed sheetfed offset in full colour on 100g/m2 Parade Prima paper from Sappi, with additional bronze print, offset and spot varnish, hot foil blocking, embossing, die stamping and assembly. The judges said that there were only a few entries in the category that showed outstanding printing and finishing quality. The register of Drukkerij Vrijdag's box was excellent and all the techniques and materials used fitted together into a fantastic, comprehensive design. The choice of the glossy spot varnish, gold foil, matt black, grey and bronze print gave the packaging an "extraordinary" look. Printers Award Mediaprint's entry, Monografia Aziendale 'Let's stop here', won the Italian company the competition's first Printers Award. This award recognises printers' own promotional work. The company's matt black folder, bound with bright red string, opened to reveal a large silver string-bound book containing a wide variety of images, paper forms and other items to stimulate creativity, including a piece of lace and a pressed maple leaf. The entry was produced in four colours using sheetfed offset and digital print on 200g/m2 Magno Star paper from Sappi, with offset and spot varnishes, metallic inks, fragrances, embossing and special folding, binding and manual assembly. The judges said that the entry fully demonstrated the printer's capabilities and was an excellent promotional item for the company. Crystal screening and the variety of the finishing provided a very high quality brochure. The judges did not select a gold award winner in the Annual Reports category this year. Sappi is the world's leading producer of coated fine paper, as well as of speciality packaging, label and release papers. Its brands include Magno, HannoArt, Presto, Voltage, Royal, Algro, Leine, Parade and Warren, which are specified by customers in more than 100 countries worldwide for high quality publishing, promotional and packaging applications. Gold award winners 'Rallé - Master of the Town of Consuls'-book printed by Antilope, Lier, Belgium 'The world is a stage'-brochure printed by Fontegrafica, Cinisello Balsamo, Italy '2004 Giesecke & Devrient-calendar printed by Color Offset, Munich, Germany 'Catálogo VicBox' printed by Rapu, Ganollers, Barcelona, Spain 'Squint 02/night'-magazine printed by Medialis Offsetdruck, Berlin, Germany 'Tatiana Mandarin cigar box' printed by Drukkerij Vrijdag, Eindhoven, The Netherlands Printer's Award Monografia Aziendale 'Let's stop here' printed by Mediaprint, Milan, Italy