During a glittering ceremony at JW Marriott Mumbai, National Awards for Excellence in Printing (15th NAEP) were presented to 69 distinguished printers of India. During the same Print Excellence Award Ceremony Global Print Excellence Awards (GPEA-2023) were also conferred to 12 eminent printers. The top winner in both the competitions remained JAK Printer Pvt Ltd from Mumbai.

Organized by the All India Federation of Master Printers, NAEP is the biggest and most recognised awards for the printing sector. AIFMP has been the torchbearer of the Printing Industry in India since decades. They have been doing a great service to millions of printing and packaging stakeholders in the country – Let it be Entrepreneurs, Employees, or anyone associated with this industry. Receiving recognition for their talent, hasn’t been easy for the printers, majorly due to Government of India’s (GoI) halt in giving the National Awards for Excellence in Printing (NAEP) in 1985. AIFMP took the challenge and started bestowing NAEP from 1999 from the little resources available with them.

In all 69 Gold, 66 Silver, 59 certificates of merit and 9 Special jury awards were distributed to the winner of 15th NAEP 2023.The major winners of this year were: National Star Printer of the year 2023: JAK Printers Pvt Ltd Mumbai; Best Printer of the year 2023 (supported by DRUPA): Pragati Offset Pvt Ltd Hyderabad; Best Packaging Printer of the year 2023: Parksons Packaging Ltd Mumbai; Best Digital Printer of the year 2023 (supported by BINDWEL): Avantika Printers Pvt Ltd New Delhi and Best Screen Printer of the year 2023: DRS Arts Company Ahmedabad.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Kamal Mohan Chopra, organising secretary said, the 15th edition of coveted print awards was conducted under the guidance and control of its Chairman, Padmashree Vijay Kumar Chopra, Former President of AIFMP. Combining the NAEP and GPEA, we have received 1833 entries from 162 printers. For NAEP, region wise 71 printers from the North, 29 from the West, 26 from the South and 4 from the East took part in this competition. Taking into consideration the number of entries, the maximum entries, 596 were received from the North followed by 459 from the West, 323 from the South and 64 from the East. Talking city wise, New Delhi with 211 entries remained at top, followed with Mumbai (160), Ahmedabad (157), Kolkata (64) and Hyderabad (57) and so on.

“Karigari” was, once again, the theme of 15th NAEP 2023, because, printing though a centuries old technique, is considered a mechanical, almost robotic, process or reproducing ideas on paper. It is, however, much more than merely pressing buttons on sophisticated printing machines. It is an art comparable to the weaving of rich brocade, the painting on exquisite canvasses, the sculpting of rock. A printer is, therefore, nothing less than an artist, and only the exceptionally skilled one can produce some brilliant examples of print. This Karigiri needs to be dignified with recognition, and it is the mission of AIFMP, I believe, Mr. Chopra added.

In his report Mr. Chopra mentioned that to widen the peripheral of awards an international competition was also arranged alongside the NAEP for the first time ever. Global Print Excellence Awards (GPEA) were introduced to recognize excellence in printing world over. Though GPEA just made its debut, I am glad to mention that the message was taken earnestly and all the leading trade magazines from around the globe covered it in their print and online editions. For this first edition of GPEA we received 391 entries of 32 printers from 6 countries. 241 entries were received from India, 160 from Sri Lanka, 6 each from Bangladesh and Bhutan, 4 from UAE and one from Indonesia.

In Global Print Excellence Awards (GPEA 2023) 24 Gold, 20 Silver, 18 Certificates of Merit and 5 special jury awards were conferred during the magnificent 29th March evening at Mumbai. The prominent winners in Global competition remained: Best of GPEA 2023 and Best Offset Printed Products: JAK Printers Pvt Ltd India; Best Digital Printed Products: Printcare PLC Sri Lanka; Best Screen-Printed Products: Archana Advertising Pvt Ltd India; Best Flexography Products: Kumar Labels India.

For the very first-time judging was streamed live to be viewed throughout the globe. Special software was prepared, and technical tools were provided to facilitate the judging. To get the unbiased decision even the judges were not allowed to discuss each other on any entry. The judges touched each entry we received, and they evaluated it individually as per their opinion.

Judging was conducted at the committee room of OPA at Ludhiana, special white lighting was arranged so that constant and same light must be maintained throughout the timings of the judging. For true and unbiased evaluation judges were intimated to evaluate each sample individually taking in view the factors like i) Aesthetic and visual appeal ii) Colour rendering, image def and appearance iii) Quality print iv) Registration v) Finishing vi) Use of technology and media vii) Degree of difficulty and creativity and viii) Innovations.

Based on evaluation of the judges 5 top entries were selected as nominated entries and these were put on display at the ‘Hall of Fame’ on 27, 28, 29 and 30 March during PAMEX 2023 at hall no 3. The award gallery was unique and was appreciated by one and all. The Print Excellence Award Ceremony held at JW Marriott (Sahar) Mumbai remained a roaring success, for the first time to entertain the audience a mind reader and magician was invited to show his talent. It is again for the first time ever that eminent printers and top award winners in the past were invited to give away the awards to the winners, so that they may get inspired to adopt their footprints. Prominent exhibitors of PAMEX 2023 were also invited for the purpose so that they all must feel involved in the award ceremony.