CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - Southern Lithoplate customers received honors for their work during the year at the recent Inland Press Association 131st annual meeting in Chicago. The association once again hosted its Print Quality Competition granting eighteen total awards for the 2016 contest, with nine of those going to newspapers that use SLP plates.

Perennial multiple award winner, The Villages (Fla.) Daily Sun, notched three of the top awards, proving its prowess in both color and black-and-white production quality. In addition to first place finishes in the both the color and black-and-white categories among newspapers in the 50,000 to 100,000 circulation bracket, its Best of Show award in the color category was testament to its print quality achievements as gauged by judges who evaluate how close to images they print on newsprint come to matching prepress proofs. The Daily Sun uses Liberty NXP true, no process plates manufactured by Southern Lithoplate.

The Print Quality Competition has evolved into one of the most prestigious contests in the U.S. newspaper industry with dozens of entries submitted by newspapers from across the US. Submitted entries are categorized by specific circulation categories and production types and judged by prominent newspaper professionals.

Additional awards won by Southern Lithoplate customers using the company’s Liberty NXP plates, Viper® 320 thermal plates or Replica HSV® violet plates include: the Seattle Times, whose entry landed First Place-Color for newspapers of 100,000 Circulation and above. The Nevada Appeal was the First Place winner in both Black-and-White and in Color among newspapers under 10K circulation.

The Morning Telegraph (Tyler, Texas) secured the Runner-up award in Black & White, competing against other newspapers of 10-50,000 circulation. For newspapers under 10,000 circulation, the Petoskey (Michigan) News-Review took home the Runner-up prize in Color and earned Honorable Mention for newspapers of its size in Black and White.

“It is highly gratifying for Southern Lithoplate to see our valued customers receive acknowledgement from their peers for their pursuit of and achievements in quality printing, said Steve Mattingly, SLP’s senior vice president. “In today’s demanding print/publishing environment these newspapers have not lost sight of the importance of delivering quality to their readers and their customers. The pressures of the newspaper marketplace on these operations to save money while maintaining quality, is unyielding. We are pleased that our industry-leading lithoplates, affordable CtP technology and dependable service solutions can assist our customers in balancing these two objectives. Our heartiest congratulations to all the winners!”