December 3, 2007 - Entries to FESPA's Digital Print Awards, supported by HP (www.fespadpa.com), will be evaluated by an independent expert jury of industry leaders, comprising print service providers, media experts and print specifiers.
The jury will be chaired, for the second year running, by industry guru and FESPA 'founding father' Michel Caza, who can call on his extensive experience during a fifty-year career as a pioneer and commentator on screen and digital printing. The other participants in the jury will be;
- FESPA board member Christian Duyckaerts, whose own business, Print & Display in Belgium, has received numerous industry accolades for digital innovation.
- Barney Cox, executive editor for the print group at Haymarket Business Publications, whose graphic arts portfolio includes PrintWeek, Printing World incorporating Print Buyer, Druck & Medien, PrintWeek Ukraine, PrintWeek Middle East, PrintWeek Russia and the online information source, printweek.com.
- Alain Vermeire, editor-in-chief of Belgian business publications Grafisch Nieuws, Nouvelles Graphiques and M&C.
- Michael Seidl, publisher of the central and eastern European Print & Publishing media group, whose titles serve print service providers in Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
- Lorenzo Villa, editor-in-chief of leading Italian industry publication Italia Publishers and its specialist sister title Large Format.
- Uwe Heinisch, editor-in-chief of SIP, the leading German title for screen and wide-format digital print, and contributor to its partner magazine, TVP.
- Agustin Torres, publisher of Pro-Digit@l, the industry publications covering the digital revolution in the dynamic Spanish and Portuguese graphic arts markets.
- Tony Smith has over 20 years' creative experience covering everything from beer and cars to copiers and computers, picking up awards along the way. He has spent the last six years at Publicis working across all accounts and
more recently was jointly in charge of the agency's HP business.
The jury will meet in London, UK, in mid February 2008, to review the entries received from printers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the eight award categories.
FESPA CEO Nigel Steffens comments, "We are delighted to have brought together a jury of this calibre for the Awards. FESPA's awards command a great deal of respect in our community, and one key reason for this is the high level of expertise of the people we work with to judge the entries. We thank the jurors for their commitment to this competition, and look forward to a stimulating debate in February."
The competition is open for entries until January 31st 2008. To enter, printers simply visit www.fespadpa.com, select a category for their entry, complete some brief details about the job, and attach up to three digital images. Entry is free of charge.
The eight category winners will be informed in writing, and will receive an expenses-paid trip to Geneva to a prize-giving dinner on 31st March 2008, with VIP entry to the FESPA Digital exhibition from 1st to 3rd April. Their work will be displayed at the exhibition, and presented to the European trade press at a champagne reception on site, and they will benefit from valuable promotional support.