The Hague, The Netherlands – The label industry’s annual showcase of the best in creative and technical label design and print – the FINAT Label Competition – has produced a sparkling line-up of winners this year. Now in its 36^th year, the competition embraces all today’s labelling and imaging technologies, and welcomes entries from around the world.    

The expert panel of judges, chaired by Tony White of AWA Consulting, evaluated some 255 entries submitted from 18 countries, and made no less than eighty one awards, including special recognition for the ‘Best in Show’ award and a ‘Judges’ Special Award’. Awards were organised in five main groups, with relevant sub-categories, covering marketing and end uses; printing processes; non-adhesive applications; innovation and digital printing.  

Best in show

Marzek Etiketten + Packaging, Austria, was awarded the ‘Best in Show’ title, along with the top prize in the Marketing and End-use Group of categories, for a label on a pack of Kaisersemmeln oven-ready bread rolls. The label was printed offset litho in six colours plus silver with the addition of a screen-printed lacquer. The judges applauded this entry as ‘a well-deserved winner’.   

Printing Processes group

In the Printing Processes group of categories, Turkish printers Çiftsan Etiket Ambalaj took the top prize with a label for Hugva Revitalising Day Cream, of which the judges said: ‘Delicate looking… The lightly-shaded background was the perfect contrast to the brand logo and the description of the product.’ This four-colour (plus foil) label also won the category prize for rotary letterpress, proving the process’s undying capabilities.

Digital print

Digital print technologies are relative newcomers to the FINAT Label Competition – and the judges commented that the ‘very high standards which can be achieved’ were demonstrated admirably by Digital Printing Group Winner Label’Or, Belgium, for a label on packs of  Hamreepjes  diced ham, which took both the group award and the category award for dry toner print.

Non-adhesive Labels

The Non-adhesive Labels group includes shrink and stretch sleeves, tube laminates, and other current options, Çiftsan Etiket Ambalaj again took the group prize, and the award for tags and labels in this category, with their tube label on Farmasi Energising Hand & Body Cream, printed using HP digital imaging and a silk screen lacquer. It featured a ‘sharp rendering of the main illustration of fruit’ which the judges particularly liked.    

Innovation Award

Each year, the judges highlight special achievements in innovation within the industry, and this year Schreiner Group, Germany, starred, taking the Innovation Award with a complex, high-performance miniature Schreiner LogiData RFID label, (rfid) DistaFerr Mini (UHF), developed specially for metal substrates. Its ‘special construction,’ the judges commented admiringly, ‘includes a filmic layer, a foam protection layer, and it is produced in a fan folded configuration.’

Judges’ Special Award

A  ‘Judges’ Special Award’ was also made to Çiftsan Etiket Ambalaj, in recognition of the company’s highly-skilled screen printing results on the label for Marièn Argan Hair Shampoo, which also won the Cosmetics category in the Marketing and End-use Group. This ‘opulent’ label, the judges said, ‘showed that the press operators had total control over this process.’

‘Lively, creative, and technologically-diverse’

The expert international panel of judges for the 2016 FINAT Label Competition found it difficult to make a final decision when awarding the group and category winners and ‘highly-commended’ entries – ‘testimony’, says Tony White, chairman of the judges, ‘to our lively, creative, and increasingly technologically-diverse industry today.’ The awards were presented at a special ceremony during the FINAT European Label Forum in Amsterdam in June, attended by business leaders across the label industry supply chain. Additional judging will take place later in the year to select FINAT entries for the 2016 L9 World Label Awards competition, which will be judged during Labelexpo 2016 in Chicago, USA, in September.

Full details of the 2016 FINAT Label Competition winners are available on the FINAT website www.finat.com.