Tru Color Litho of Nashville, Tennessee Wins Best of Show Award 

Nashville, TN – The Printing Industry Association of the South, Inc. (PIAS) announced the winners of its 2015 Graphic Awards at a special presentation on June 16, 2015, during the PIAS Annual Convention at the Hilton SanDestin Beach Resort in Destin, Florida.

The PIAS Graphic Awards competition, held annually, is designed to recognize and appropriately honor those responsible for the creation, design and production of top-quality printed materials; those which have impact, appeal and effectiveness as sales/marketing, communications or educational medium.

Entries were submitted in one of four divisions:  Printers with less than 25 employees; Printers with 25 to 75 employees; Printers with more than 75 employees; and Trade Houses specializing in Binding & Finishing Services.  The judges determined which would receive: the coveted Golden Ben for Best of Show; one of five Silver Bens awarded for Best of Division; mounted certificates for Best of Category; or unmounted certificates for Award of Excellence.  One special award winners was also decided for the best Self-Advertising piece.  In total, 407 awards were presented this year, including: 140 Best of Category awards; and 407 Awards of Excellence; in addition to the Self-Promotion Award, Best of Division, and Best of Show awards.

The PIAS Graphic Awards Competition is judged by a panel of 3 experts using a point system. A printed piece must earn a certain number of points based on set criteria to receive an Award of Excellence. The judges evaluate each entry based upon the following criteria: degree of difficulty; quality and technique of reproduction; excellence in creativity, design, typography and general layout; and, if appropriate, unusual applications such as special effects, etc. The entry receiving the highest composite score within each category will receive the Best of Category Award. After judging is completed for each category within a division, all of the Best of Category winners from that division are grouped together and judged again to determine which entry is to receive the Best of Division award, the Silver Ben. After judging is completed for all divisions, all of the Best of Division winners are grouped together and judged again to determine which entry is to receive the top honor - the Best of Show, the Golden Ben trophy 

The trophy winners are:

BEST OF SHOW:

Tru Color Litho of Nashville, Tennessee, for “Yazoo Handcrafted Brew”

BEST OF DIVISION – PRINTERS WITH LESS THAN 25 EMPLOYEES:

Tru Color Litho of Nashville, Tennessee, for “Yazoo Handcrafted Brew”

BEST OF DIVISION – PRINTERS WITH 25 TO 75 EMPLOYEES:

Hot Graphics Printing of Memphis, Tennessee for “Sullivan Branding – Waldorf”

BEST OF DIVISION – PRINTERS WTIH MORE THAN 75 EMPLOYEES:

Mercury Printing of Memphis, Tennessee for “Memphis – Sweet, Spicy & a Little Greasy”

BEST OF DIVISION – TRADE HOUSES –  BINDING & FINISHING SERVICES:

Bindtech, Inc. of Nashville, Tennessee for “Hiroshige”

SELF ADVERTISING AWARD:

BPI Media Group of Boaz, Alabama for the “Airplane Campaign”

The overall winners, by state and city, are:

ALABAMA

BIRMINGHAM

American Printing Company, for:

10 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards

BOAZ

BPI Media Group, for:

6 Awards of Excellence, 4 Best of Category awards and the Overall Self-Promotion Award

ARKANSAS

JONESBORO

Master Print Group, for:

6 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards

LITTLE ROCK

Arkansas Graphics for:

4 Awards of Excellence 

Democrat Printing & Lithographing, for: 

7 Awards of Excellence and 1 Best of Category award

Magna IV, for:

6 Awards of Excellence and 1 Best of Category award 

KENTUCKY 

LOUISVILLE

Gateway Press, Inc. for:

5 Awards of Excellence

The Merrick Printing Company, for:

42 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards

Vivid Impact Corporation, for:

32 Awards of Excellence and 12 Best of Category awards

Welch Printing Company, for:

25 Awards of Excellence and 8 Best of Category award

LOUISIANA

BATON ROUGE

Baton Rouge Printing, for: 

29 Awards of Excellence and 11 Best of Category awards 

HARAHAN

  Garrity Print Solutions, for:

9 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards

MISSISSIPPI

BILOXI

Knight-Abbey Commercial Printing & Direct Mail, for: 

19 Awards of Excellence and 6 Best of Category 

RIDGELAND

Hederman Brothers, for: 

34 Awards of Excellence and 13 Best of Category awards

TENNESSEE

CHATTANOOGA

Diversified Companies, for:

5 Awards of Excellence

Starkey Printing Company, for:

24 Awards of Excellence and 12 Best of Category awards

TPC Printing & Packaging, for:

16 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards

JOHNSON CITY

Katz Americas, for: 

4 Awards of Excellence and 3 Best of Category awards

LEWISBURG

Lewisburg Printing Company, for:

7 Awards of Excellence and 6 Best of Category awards

MEMPHIS

Hot Graphics Printing, for:

14 Awards of Excellence, 4 Best of Category awards and 1 Best of Division award

Mercury Printing, for:

2 Awards of Excellence, 1 Best of Category award and 1 Best of Division award

NASHVILLE

Allen Printing for:

1 Award of Excellence and 1 Best of Category award

Ambrose Printing Company, for:

2 Awards of Excellence

Arena Imprints, for:

2 Awards of Excellence

Bindtech, for:

8 Awards of Excellence, 5 Best of Category awards and 1 Best of Division award

Color Stream Digital, for:

11 Awards of Excellence and 10 Best of Category awards

Dynamark, for:

10 Awards of Excellence and 2 Best of Category awards

Lithographics, Inc., for:

9 Awards of Excellence and 4 Best of Category awards,

Marshall & Bruce Company, for:

7 Awards of Excellence and 2 Best of Category awards

McGraphics, Inc., for:

4 Awards of Excellence and 1 Best of Category award

Parris Printing, for:

9 Award of Excellences and 1 Best of Category award

Randall House Publications, for:

8 Awards of Excellence and 1 Best of Category award

Tru Color Litho, for:

20 Awards of Excellence, 8 Best of Category awards, 1 Best of Division award, and

1 Best of Show award

PIAS is a graphic arts trade association representing more than 500 member companies in their seven state region: Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia.