Vancouver, British Columbia — Metropolitan Fine Printers, Inc. earned seven Bennys at the 2002 Premier Print Awards ceremony, the highest number given this year to a single printer. Included in the count was the prestigious They Said It Couldn’t Be Done Award, which is considered to be the program’s most prestigious prize. The overall victory represents "best of" wins in seven different categories, and raised Metropolitan’s cumulative Premier Print total to 54 awards, which the company received in a ceremony held in Chicago in conjunction with Graph Expo. "Recognition of this magnitude is a tremendous honor, particularly in our 25th anniversary year," says company President and Founder George Kallas. "At Met, we've always taken great pride in our craftsmanship and innovation, but we can't do it alone." Kallas points to five factors that contributed to his company’s award-winning performance: "To the creative clients with whom we're blessed to collaborate; to the Met team, who live and breathe printing and who every day strive to stretch the limits of lithography; to Creo Products Inc. for their ongoing support and amazing technology; to MAN Roland Inc. for supplying us with the finest printing presses in the world; and to our many suppliers, who work tirelessly to help us achieve our goals." Metropolitan utilizes an eight-color MAN Roland 700 as its flagship press. The 41" machine is a 4/4 perfector, equipped with the new Job Pilot and PressMonitor modules, which recently won a GATF 2002 InterTech Award. "We build our presses to be the best in the business," notes Yves Rogivue. "So it’s gratifying when the best craftsmen in the industry use our innovations to achieve such overwhelming success. We salute George Kallas and his staff at Metropolitan Fine Printers for making us all look good." The award winners were led by a project titled the "Nike Presto Design Annual." It received separate Bennys in four categories: Special Innovation, Miscellaneous Specialties, Single Promotional Self Mailer, and They Said It Couldn’t Be Done. That final category is considered to be the prize of all prizes at the Premiere Print Awards, with approximately 5,000 entries submitted this year. Contest organizers reserve it for the one printer "who exceeds all limits and expectations when taking on the numerous challenges faced on the toughest job." The They Said It Couldn’t Be Done Award is the only Benny whose winner is announced at the awards ceremony. In fact, the three finalists are flown in and put up at the contest’s expense, to make sure the presentation of the top prize is the highlight of the evening. Metropolitan’s three other Benny winning entries were the "Jackson Triggs Winery's Epilogue Label" in the Labels and Wraps category; "The University of British Columbia's Newsletter," in the Four or More Color Newsletter category; and the printer’s own ten-color reproduction of a page of the original 1455 Gutenberg Bible in the Other Art Reproductions category. Sponsored by the Printing Industries of America, the 52nd annual Premier Print Awards competition received over 5,000 entries from 725 printing companies representing 15 countries. In addition to its seven Bennys, Metropolitan Fine Printers achieved 13 Awards of Recognition, 33 Certificates of Merit, and one "Best in Division" award. Williamson Printing Corporation of Dallas won the Gold Award for the highest number of overall prizes with a total of 65 awards (5 Bennys). Metropolitan took the Silver Award with 54 prizes (7 Bennys), while Peake Printers, of Cheverly, Maryland, earned the Bronze Award with 44 prizes (2 Bennys).