Categories & Criteria

The Performance Awards

Here the judges are looking at the business performance of the entering companies. These categories take into account the quality of the balance sheet and profit and loss accounts; investment in technology and people; and other achievements, such as the winning of new contracts, or the overcoming of exceptional circumstances. This means that we need to see real substantive evidence, including report and accounts, but we guarantee the confidentiality of sensitive information. The financial year under review is April 2009 to the end of March 2010.

Please note
Entrants in the categories for Pre-Press, SME and Printing Company of the Year, must provide full profit and loss and balance sheet information (management accounts are acceptable for periods falling outside your financial year-end). Any submission without this supporting evidence will be disqualified. Please pay special attention to the 500 word summary requested here as this helps the judges to consider your entry.

PrintWeek Printing Company of the Year
The ultimate accolade in the industry. This award recognises outstanding achievement, based on the financial and business performance of a company. Please supply any information that helps to substantiate your achievement, including report and accounts and a 500-word summary on why you should win this award. Other information, such as letters of commendation from customers will also be considered.

SME Company of the Year
Sponsored by Close Print Finance
This category is for small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and is designed to recognise the achievements of printers with up to 50 employees and/or a turnover of less than £5m. Please supply any information which helps to substantiate your achievements, including report and accounts and a 500-word summary on why you should win this award. Other information, such as letters of commendation from customers and samples of work will also be considered.

Pre-Press Company of the Year
Repro houses are evolving faster than ever as they adapt to the market place, and it is the combination of outstanding financial performance and development in a fast-changing environment that this award seeks to recognise. Please supply any information that helps to substantiate your achievement, including report and accounts and a 500-word summary on why you should win this award. Other information, such as letters of commendation from customers and samples of work will also be considered. As well as trade shops and bureaux, entries from in-house pre-press operations or subsidiaries will also be accepted provided they are run as separate businesses with their own set of accounts.

Cross Media Company
Sponsored by Print Power
This new award aims to recognise the UK's leading exponent of cross-media communications that incorporates a print element. The award will be judged on one project or campaign and entrants must have undertaken the printed part of the project as well as at least one element of the electronic campaign, which could be email, SMS or web-based. In particular, the judges will be looking for a detailed client testimonial that describes aspects such as bottom-line impact, response rates, ROI, sustainability, data collection and any other metrics that the client/entrant thinks are appropriate. The entry must also include samples of each part of the campaign – print and electronic.
 
Client confidentiality will be respected and any information that is not for publication should be clearly marked.

Environmental Company of the Year
Sponsored by KBA
This award will go to the print company that has done most to improve its environmental performance during the period under review. The judges will be looking for evidence of the programmes or changes implemented, and of the measurable results of these changes. Please supply all relevant information that will substantiate your environmental achievement, including a 500-word summary and a copy of your company’s environmental policy.

Customer Service Team of the Year
Sponsored by Duplo
This award recognises the importance of world-class customer service, and that successful companies have to provide much more than “just ink on paper”. It will be awarded to the customer service team that can demonstrate exemplary performance in offering innovative customer service solutions to customers. This could involve solving a specific problem(s) or thinking proactively on behalf of the customer. Please support your entry with a 500-word summary on why your company should win, along with specific customer service case studies. Clients may remain anonymous if required. Please mark your entry accordingly.

Trainee of the Year
Sponsored by Heidelberg UK
The Heidelberg bursary of £2,000 is open to any trainee, including full- or part-time employees or students, undertaking any form of print related qualification, from an NVQ to a degree. There is no limit to the number of trainees/students any college or employer may nominate, each entry is free. Entries should be submitted by a lecturer or the trainee's employer, and should include a brief report from the nominating lecturer/employer on why each the trainee is nominated, together with examples of his or her coursework and a declaration from the trainee supporting their entry.

The year under review is September 2009 to the end of June 2010. Please note that trainees, if shortlisted, must be available to attend the Awards ceremony to collect the bursary as Heidelberg’s guest on the 19 October.
Note: entry into the Trainee of the Year category is free.

The Quality Awards
Here the judges are looking at the quality of the work produced. All entries (except Innovative) need to include a single copy example of four different jobs (so each entry will consist of an entry form, 250-word statement and four different job samples), printed since 1 July 2009, in order to demonstrate consistent production excellence.

Please note that printers’ own promotional material is not eligible. For each of the four entries, a 250 word summary must accompany the work to back up the examples, explaining how the job was completed and the challenges it posed etc. Please remember to give details of equipment used to carry out the job on the entry form.

Post-Press Company of the Year
Sponsored by Friedheim International
This award is open to both trade finishers and in-house finishing departments. The judges will be looking for the use of a finishing process (or a combination of processes) that genuinely adds value to a printed product. Entrants are advised to enter four different jobs that demonstrate the breadth of their capabilities.

Label Printer of the Year
Judges will be looking for the best examples of labels printed using any process. Of particular interest will be the use and application of special colours and finishes, and printing on difficult or unusual substrates.

Consumer Magazine Printer of the Year
In this category we are looking for the best examples of ‘glossy’ magazines printed using the gravure, web offset or sheetfed process, with equal emphasis placed on printing and finishing. Customer magazines will be disqualified and should be entered into the Customer Magazine category.

Business Magazine Printer of the Year
The judges will be looking for high standards of print and finishing but in this category they will take into account any production constraints. Business magazines are defined as those aimed at a specific profession or trade. Customer magazines will be disqualified and should be entered into the Customer Magazine category.

Customer Magazine Printer of the Year
Judges will be looking for in this category we are looking for the best examples of high value customer magazines printed using the gravure, web offset or sheetfed process. We need to know why the jobs are special.

Social Stationery Printer of the Year
This category covers printers of all social stationery (note cards, postcards, invitations, letterheads etc) as well as greetings cards. All aspects of production will be taken into consideration including foiling, embossing, debossing and die-cutting. Sample books are not eligible.

Book Printer of the Year
Judges will be looking for the highest quality of printing married to precision in binding. Entrants must submit four different books either case bound or paperback or both. Where the binding has not been done in-house the trade bindery/ies used must be declared on the production sheet.

Packaging Printer of the Year
Sponsored by Mercury Search & Selection
This award encompasses all types of printed packaging, including cartons, flexible packaging and other containers. The judges will be looking for all-round excellence in packaging printing and will take into account the use of difficult substrates and other production constraints.

Catalogue Printer of the Year
Sponsored by Goss
Entrants should submit catalogues printed using the web offset or gravure process. Although high quality printing is essential, this category will take into account the production constraints often imposed in catalogue work.

Brochure Printer of the Year
The judges are looking for the most outstanding examples of colour brochures printed using the sheetfed printing process.

Direct Mail Printer of the Year
Sponsored by GMC
The full range of printing and finishing techniques will be judged in this category, including folding, perforating, personalisation, die-cutting and pop-ups.

Newspaper Printer of the Year
We are looking for the newspaper printer that demonstrates outstanding colour printing on newsprint-based products. Judges will take into account the pressures of daily or weekly production.

Fine Art Printer of the Year
For this category, judges will be looking for prints, fine art books or art catalogues which demonstrate the very highest levels of origination and print. Limited editions are eligible.

Poster Printer of the Year
This category recognises high-quality large format poster printing using either screen, litho or large-format digital printing. The minimum size of poster eligible is six-sheet format. A hard copy of each poster must be supplied as well as a proof.

Report & Accounts Printer of the Year
Judges will be looking for consistent quality of repro, print and finishing. Report and accounts printed either sheetfed or web offset may be entered and judges will take into account the production implications.

Digital Printer of the Year
Sponsored by Ricoh
Judges will be seeking out the company that best demonstrates a combination of good quality colour results, with innovative applications. Large format digital print work should be entered into the Poster category.

Point-of-Purchase (PoP) Printer of the Year
This award will recognise those companies that demonstrate excellence throughout the display stand lifecycle. We’ll be looking for innovation in construction and manufacturing techniques, in-situ effectiveness and outstanding customer service. Please submit one sample from four different campaigns.

Creative Repro Company of the Year
Judges will be looking for excellence in the use of retouching, masking and colour correction. We need to know why jobs are special. Any evidence to support the transformation of a job (original images for example) will greatly help the judges in their decision.