(WESTERVILLE, Ohio)—Quality craftsmanship deserves to be recognized. The 2002 Print Excellence Awards were designed to do just that. The Printing Industries Association, Inc. serving northern Kentucky and Ohio (PIANKO) displayed the southern winners as part of Print Week in Cincinnati Jan. 18 at the Omni Netherlands Hotel and will honor the northern winners at Ben’s Birthday Bash (honoring Ben Franklin) Jan. 24 and the central winners on Jan. 30 at the Center of Science and Industry (C.O.S.I.). PIANKO’s Print Excellence Awards were designed to recognize superior print production and quality craftsmanship and member companies continue to use the venue as a showcase of their abilities and quality work. “Each year, I am amazed at the high quality of entries we receive,” said PIANKO President Anita Herington. “The judges had a difficult time selecting the winners last November.” Three experts were chosen to serve as judges for this year’s contest based on their printing qualifications. The judges were: Darren Gapen, lead press instructor with Heidelberg, Bob Kenley of Fuji Photo Film and Charlie Molicki with Flint Ink. Gold, silver and bronze awards were selected for the northern, central and southern regions of PIANKO out of the 629 entries submitted statewide in 35 different categories. “These pieces are some of the finest I’ve seen” said Gapen, who has judged contests nationally. “Ohio’s turning out some real quality work.” The regional gold winners are then judged in a Best of Category and Best of Show competition with those winners to be announced at PIANKO’s Grand Ceremony sponsored by Heidelberg, Inc. on March 28 at the organization’s 2003 Leadership Conference at the United States Air Force Museum. The following companies were honored with the following awards: Admiral Products – Cleveland Advertiser Printers, Inc. – Dayton, KY Alliance Printing & Packaging – Cincinnati American Direct Mail Advertising – Columbus American Print Works Co. – Columbus Automated Graphics Systems – Macedonia Berman Printing – Cincinnati Boehm, Inc. – Columbus Cincinnati Insurance Co. – Fairfield Coyne Printing & Finishing – Mount Vernon Custom Graphics – Solon E-B Display Co. – Massillion Ernst & Young Product Sales – Cleveland FineLine Graphics – Columbus Flottman Co. – Crestview Hills George W. Steffen Bookbinders – Macedonia Great Lakes Cos. – Cleveland Harris Paper Crafts, Inc. – Columbus Hennegan Co. – Florence, KY Hopkins Printing – Columbus John S. Swift Co., Inc. – Cincinnati Joseph Berning Printing Company – Cincinnati Legal News Publishing Co. – Cleveland Middleton Printing Co. – Columbus Model Graphics & Media, Inc. – West Chester Modern International Graphics – Eastlake Multi-Craft Litho – Newport, KY Nielsen, A Moore Company – Newport, KY Ohio Printing Co. – Columbus Ohio University Printing Resources – Athens Oliver Printing Co. – Twinsburg Optimum Print Solutions – Columbus Patented Printing – Dayton, OH Pony X Press Printing Solutions – Reynoldsburg Precision Printing – Brecksville Precision Printing of Columbus – Westerville S. Beckman Print & Graphic Solutions – Columbus SpringDot – Cincinnati St Ives, Inc. – Cuyahoga Heights Superior Printing Co. – Warren The Envelope Printery of Ohio – Cleveland The Herald Printing Co. – New Washington The Milbourn Pressworks Co. – Eastlake The Old Trail Printing Co. – Columbus Total PrePress & Digital Imaging – Dayton, OH United States Playing Card Co. – Cincinnati Vincent Graphics – Dublin Warren Printing, Inc. – Warren Watt Printers – Cleveland Westfield Cos. – Westfield Center Sponsors for this year’s Print Excellence Awards include: Braden Sutphin Ink Co., CareWorks, Corporate Plans, Inc., Kodak Polychrome, Heidelberg USA, Ohio Envelope Manufacturing Co., Sterling Paper, Unisource, xpedx, Compensation Consultants, Inc., Graphco, Kohl & Madden Printing Ink Co., Meredith & Associates/United Insurance Co., Utica National Insurance, Employee Benefit Management Corp., Hirth, Norris & Garrison, Medina Paper Recycling Inc., The Murphy Company, Roosevelt Paper Co. and Superior Printing Ink Co. Printing Industries Association, Inc. serving northern Kentucky and Ohio (PIANKO) serves about 600 commercial printing companies and suppliers to the industry in its service area. With headquarters in Westerville, Ohio, the association also operates offices in Broadview Heights and Cincinnati. PIANKO is an affiliate of the national Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, the largest graphic arts association in the world. To learn more about PIANKO, visit www.pianko.org. A major initiative of PIANKO is Print: The Original Information Technology (or Print IT) which illustrates the importance of print as a communication medium. In the face of technology, print is still the primary source of communication for most of the world.