The Best of the Best awards will be announced during Labelexpo Europe in Brussels in September

The Hague - The L9 are pleased to announce the results of the 2016 L9 World Label Awards (WLA) competition judged by an international jury the day before Labelexpo Americas in Chicago in September 2016. The L9 is an alliance of global label associations for the purposes of formulating policies and gathering strategic information in connection with global matters affecting the worldwide label industry.

The current class structure includes 22 classes covering all the principal printing processes and market applications. The results are listed in class order with the Winners announced first followed by the Honourable Mention (HM) awards.

Each year all the L9 label associations are invited to submit entries for the World Label Awards. This ensures that the competition has a truly international flavour. During the past year the Australian label association LATMA and the Australian Flexographic Association merged to form a new association FPLMA (Flexible Packaging & Label Manufacturers Association). The associations taking part in this year’s competition include FINAT (Europe), TLMI (USA), JFLP (Japan), FPLMA (Australia), SALMA (New Zealand) and PEIAC (China). 

These prestigious awards are valued throughout the worldwide label fraternity signalling that the label converter has achieved real excellence in label production. The awards are not only seen as a boost for the production personnel connected with producing the label but also as a valuable marketing tool and are often referred to as being the technical Oscars of the global label industry. The jury scrutinises every label for its technical achievement and aesthetic appeal along with converting and finishing technology. “We are the most critical assessors of the quality of a label, often far in excess of the printers own QC department. We look for and expect a high standard of printing at this level and are not often disappointed” comments Tony White, chairman of the judging panel. “Each year we see further improvements in the ability of the label converters to amaze us with the quality levels which they achieve” he continues.

The judges for the 2016 competition included Mike Buystedt TLMI) (Vice Chairman), Kurt Walker (FINAT), Tony Wheeler (SALMA), Andrew Maxwell (FPLMA), Sumio Morimoto (JFLP) and Ms Li Chunjie (PEIAC).

The Results

Class 1: Flexo Line

Winner FPLMA: Hally Labels, Australia for “Endeavour Reserve Pale Ale”

Class 2: Flexo Line/Screen

Winner FPLMA: QLM Label Makers, Australia for “Owner Parking Permit”

HM TLMI: Label Impressions, USA for “GT’s SYNERGY BLACK CHIA”

Class 3: Flexo Colour Process

Winner FPLMA: Pemara, Australia for ”Jewel Beetles Stamps”

HM TLMI: Inovar Packaging, USA for “Aloe H2O”

Class 4: Flexo Wine/Spirits

Winner TLMI: Multicolor North American Wine and Spirits, USA for “Girl & Dragon Malbec”

HM SALMA: Rapid Labels, New Zealand for “Haha Reserve Pinot Noir 2014”

Class 7: Letterpress Colour Process

Winner JFLP: Sibel Industry Co. Ltd., Japan for “Organic Herb Tea (Cecilia & Amelia)”

Class 8: Wine/Spirits

Winner JFLP: Sankyo Tac Label Co. Ltd., Japan for “KACHOUFUGETSU (Japanese Sake)”

Class 9: Offset Line

Winner SALMA: Panprint, New Zealand for “Manukora Honey”

Class 11: Offset Colour Process

Joint Winner FINAT: Marzek Etiketten + Packaging Group, Austria for “Kaisersemmeln”

Joint Winner JFLP: SANKYO SEAL Co. Ltd., Japan for “DASHI by Sukiyabashi Jiro”

Class 12: Offset Wine/Spirits

Winner PEIAC: Beijing Sunrise Printing Co. Ltd., China for “Great Wall Desert Vineyard”

HM FPLMA: Multicolor (SA), Australia for “On The Grapevine”

Class 14: Combination Line/Screen

Winner TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for “Get Real”

Class 15: Combination Colour Process

Winner JFLP: SUNMEC Co. Ltd., Japan for “Le Lectier”

HM FINAT: Royston Labels, UK for “Eco Soapia Rose Geranium”

Class 16: Combination Wine/Spirits

Winner JFLP: MARU-SIN Co. Ltd., Japan for “ENMA (Japanese Shochu)”

Winner FPLMA: James Print Australia for “Wingara La La Land”

HM FINAT: Multi Color Australia for Sellicks Hill Diavolo Shiraz Cabernet”

Class 17: Digital Printing

Winner TLMI: Digital Label Solutions, USA for “Tell us about your Kia”

HM FINAT: ?iftsan Etiket, Turkey for “Sir Spray Limescale & Rust Remover”

Class 18: Digital Wine/Spirits

Winner TLMI: Multicolor Sonoma, USA for “Precision”

HM FINAT: Multicolor, Australia for “Single Vineyard Dappled”

HM FPLMA: Multicolor (WA), Australia for “Deepwoods Estate”

HM SALMA: Kiwi Labels Ltd., New Zealand for “Bascands Sauvignon Blanc”

Classs 19: Screen Printing

Winner FINAT: ?iftsan Etiket, Turkey for “Marièn Argan Hair Shampoo”

HM JFLP: Sibel Industry Co. Ltd., Japan for “Tsuru Mau”

Class 21: Booklets

Winner FPLMA: The ELNA Press, Australia for “Bostik 500ml PVC Pipe Cement”

HM FINAT: Codex Security Printing House, Hungary for “Adama Legato 500SC”3

Class 22: Innovation

Winner FINAT: Schreiner Group, Germany for “(rfid) Distaferr Mini (UHF)”

Overall ranking of winners by region:

Best of the Best

This is the fourth year that the L9 World label Awards Association has included 5 additional awards representing the “Best of the Best” entries from the principal printing processes selected during the judging process. The awards will be presented at the Tarsus Global Awards event which will be held during Labelexpo 2017 in Brussels in September 2017. The winners were selected from the winning entries in the L9 World label Awards competition from the following classes: Flexography, Letterpress, Offset Litho, Combination Printing, Digital Printing. The plaques will be presented and the winners revealed at the awards ceremony and are perceived as the “Oscars of the Oscars” of the international label industry.

The judging for the 2017 L9 WLA competition will take place on the 24^th September 2017 in Brussels at the Labelexpo venue.