Hershey, Pennsylvania — MAN Roland-equipped newspapers took the lion’s share of honors in the 2006 Print Quality Contest of the America East Newspaper and Technology Conference, running March 27-29. “On behalf of the entire MAN Roland team, I would like to extend our congratulations to all the winners for their outstanding accomplishment in newspaper print quality.” says Vince Lapinski, COO Web Operations for MAN Roland Inc. Journal Register Company won four awards, including First place in the 25,000-50,000 circulation category, which went to the Daily Local News of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Mercury of Pottstown, Pennsylvania finished Third in that group. Meanwhile, the Reporter of Lansdale, Pennsylvania took First place in the under 25,000 circulation category. All of Journal Register’s winners are printed on their MAN Roland GEOMAN at their Exton, Pennsylvania facility. The Staten Island Advance took First place in the 50,000-100,000 circulation category. That Newhouse newspaper is also produced on their MAN Roland GEOMAN press. Gannett’s Rochester Democrat and Chronicle won Second place in the over 100K circulation classification. Their press of choice is also the MAN Roland GEOMAN. A separate flexo press category was also dominated by MAN Roland users. The Lancaster Newspapers Inc. of Lancaster, Pennsylvania achieved First place honors and the Chattanooga Times Free Press won Third place. Both papers are produced on MAN Roland FLEXOMAN presses. Finally, The Herald Dispatch of Huntington, West Virginia won First place in the letterpress category. Its press is a Wood Metropolitan that is supported and serviced by MAN Roland. According to the event’s sponsor, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, the Print Quality Contest is designed to be a learning experience for the 80+ companies that typically enter. Participants submit six copies of their newspapers from a particular week in November and are not told in advance which day will be selected for judging. Three independent and experienced judges evaluate each newspaper entry and then average the scores. Feedback is provided on the print quality of the newspapers submitted in six different areas, including black ink laydown, color ink laydown, color registration, halftone quality, page alignment and overall print appearance. The awards will be presented to all of the winners at a special ceremony on March 29th at the America East Conference. An educational program on print quality will be part of the event, as will the announcement of a “Best in Show” winner.