Mortsel, Belgium – 27 January 2005 – Agfa announced that :Azura, the new commercially-available chemistry-free plate, has been declared by the readers of the influential European printing trade publication Deutscher Drucker as the year’s Most Innovative Prepress Product launched at Drupa 2004. The title recognises :Azura’s role of providing simplicity, performance and reliability in the thermal CtP workflow. :Azura’s quality, ease of use, simplicity of operation and compatibility with a wide range of thermal platesetters have clearly resonated with printers around the world. The elimination of chemical processing has been extremely popular and has given customers extraordinary benefits without any compromise on press. “We are pleased that :Azura has been recognised by the readers of Deutscher Drucker magazine. We recognised that commercial printers were ready for a chemistry-free option in their prepress operations and that they were looking for cost-effective ways to improve workflow efficiency,” said Theo De Keersmaecker, Agfa's director of CtP, world wide. “As the only major vendor with a chemistry-free plate available and in use in many printing facilities around the world, the honour rewards Agfa's technology as well as our ambition to be first and best in the imaging field.”