Emtone has become the latest print company to be rewarded by the new Howard Smith Paper Graphic Design and Print Awards 02, which have been developed into a unique and first in its kind marketing and promotional package for the winning companies.

Bath-based litho and reprographic printers, Emtone celebrated its success in the following awards categories;

Emtone achieved two wins in the Books & Magazines and Fine Art categories for its Modern Muses book with images taken by rock star Bryan Adams for the National Portrait Gallery, printed on think4 white.

Initially this posed a few problems for Emtone, as Chris Heathcote explains, “The English Group specified a large-format perfect-bound publication that was larger than any binder we could find in the UK. The problem was solved by our finishers, Folio of Bristol, who were prepared to dismantle parts of their plant to allow the book to pass through the binder.”

In fact, less than a week after the artwork had been delivered to Emtone, Bryan Adams was signing copies for the great and the good in the arts and media world.

Emtone also received three highly commended, one for “Paper” for The Nightclub in the brochures category printed on think4 white and warm, and two in the Environmental category. One for “Alladale” by the Alladale Lodge & Wilderness Reserve on think4 white and Sovereign Silk and the other for “A Case for Support” for The Soil Association on Consort Silk and think4 white.

Commenting on the intricacies involved with the Case for Support-Soil Association publication, Emtone’s Chris Heathcote stated, “The Soil Association needed to appeal to its wealthiest benefactors to help raise the capital costs of a proposed new headquarters in Bristol. It needed to be sensitive to the level of budget that it could direct towards the project, so we all aimed to deliver above-and-beyond what was otherwise affordable. The environmental credentials of the papers were critical and we really benefited from the support offered by Howard Smith Paper.”

The publication also needed to be updateable, so in order to achieve this the large-format landscape pages were bound with screw posts inside an extra thick rough card cover. The highlight of the project was an essay of the celebrated war photographer Don McCullin's photographs of the Somerset levels (where he lives). This was then featured in a separate singer-sewn brochure enclosed in a folder within the main publication.

“It’s a fantastic achievement for our work to be recognized and rewarded, and we hope that with the help of the campaign we can let our customers and hopefully future customers know the quality of work we can produce,” said Emtone Managing Director John Coward.