Reston, VA (November 13, 2008) - Shelly Manley, a copy editor at a New Jersey design firm, was named the lucky winner of the Designer's Dream Office Giveaway at GRAPH EXPO 2008.   GRAPH EXPO, the largest graphic communications exhibition and conference in the Western Hemisphere this year, took place in Chicago this past October 26 - 29.  It featured more than 600 exhibitors displaying the latest in graphic communications technologies over 450,000 sq. ft. of space across the expansive show floor.  Creative professionals are finding GRAPH EXPO to be a treasure of benefits that they cannot find at any other show.

  The Designer's Dream Office Giveaway took place for the first time at this year's GRAPH EXPO and offered a complete package of top-of-the-line hardware and software to one winner.  Manley's name was randomly chosen from more than 700 entries. Her prize includes:

- A 3.2 GHz Mac Pro, running Mac OS X and preloaded with a number of Apple applications; a Bluetooth keyboard and Bluetooth two-button mouse; a 30-inch flat-screen monitor; and Airport Extreme portable wireless Internet, all from Apple

- Mini speakers from Bose

- A laser color printer with 11 x 17-inch output, plus a flatbed scanner, from HP

- A 12 x 19-inch tablet from Wacom

- A complete design software package, including Creative Suite 4 from Adobe; Quark 8 from Quark; software that transfers files from InDesign to Quark and vice versa, from Markzware; and a 16-product, 24-disc set of the best in design elements and assets for Adobe Photoshop, from Graphic Authority

- A $1,000 gift certificate for office furniture from Herman Miller

- Several books for creatives from PIA/GATF

- A two-year membership to the National Association of Photoshop Professionals

- Two all-access seminar passes to the global PRINT 09 show, from the Graphic Arts Show Company.
The entire package is estimated to be worth close to $20,000.

  Manley, who started her career as a newspaper reporter in the late 1980s, now works at Venture Wise Design LLC, a Wallington, NJ, design firm that serves clients from a variety of industries. She attended GRAPH EXPO with her company president to obtain ideas on new services they could offer clients.

  Manley says she definitely benefited from attending GRAPH EXPO-and not just because of having won the Designer's Dream Office Giveaway. "We saw many new things that we could offer to our clients," she says, including equipment that can do small imprinting jobs, die cutting and foil stamping machines with different capabilities, a variety of software for creative professionals, and ideas for different print techniques that could be applied to business cards and logos.

  "We discovered new and different ideas at GRAPH EXPO that we, as a small firm, were not necessarily aware of," Manley adds. "When PRINT 09 comes to Chicago next September, I will absolutely lobby to attend!"

  Information on the first-ever Designer's Dream Office Giveaway, as well as on GRAPH EXPO, are available online at: www.graphexpo.com.