Business News
Sappi European Printers of the Year 2008
Sunday 08. June 2008 - Sappi honours best printers in Hamburg
Sappi has presented 36 printers from 15 countries across Europe and the Middle East with prestigious gold, silver and bronze awards at its 2008 European Printers of the Year gala awards ceremony in Hamburg, Germany.
The ceremony took place on 31 May at the historic ‘Schuppen 52’ warehouse in the city’s harbour, once known as the ‘cathedral of work’ because of its size and the number of people it employed to handle goods from every part of the world. Some 300 guests including the winning printers, their paper merchants and representatives from the European and Middle East print industry attended the event.
Printers from Austria, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Turkey won the coveted Sappi European Printers of the Year gold awards. The eight winners were:
Annual Reports: Raff, Riederich, Germany
Books: Flevodruk, Harderwijk, The Netherlands
Brochures: Paul Gerin, Wolkersdorf, Austria
Calendars: Lechte, Emsdetten, Germany
Catalogues: A4 Ofset, Istanbul, Turkey
General Print: druckpartner Druck- und Medienhaus, Essen, Germany
Magazines: Druckstudio, Düsseldorf, Germany
Packaging and Labels: Formplast Group, Formigine, Italy.
The independent panel of judges did not select a gold award winner this year in the Printer’s Own Promotion category.
Presenting the awards, Sappi Fine Paper Europe CEO Berry Wiersum paid tribute to the winning printers: “As a paper manufacturer, I never cease to be amazed at how the creativity and craftsmanship of designers and printers can transform our products into so many items of real worth and beauty. I sincerely salute the incredible skill and professionalism of all the winning printers here tonight, who are operating at the very top of their game. I am sure that some of them will also go on to achieve even greater global recognition.”
In October, the eight European gold award winners will join the gold award winners from regional Sappi Printers of the Year competitions in North America, Africa, and Asia, Australasia, Central and South America at the Sappi International Printers of the Year awards. There, the best printer in each category will be chosen as one of the nine Sappi International Printers of the Year, the ultimate accolade in the global print industry. For the past two years, printers from Europe and the Middle East have taken home as many as six of the Sappi ‘Elephant’ trophies. Sappi wishes them continued success.
Entries to next year’s 2009 Sappi European Printers of the Year competition must be printed during this calendar year. Deadline for entries, which must be printed on, or partly on, Sappi paper, is 31 January 2009. Sappi has produced a Sappi Printers of the Year CD, which describes the background to the awards, explains what is expected of printers and their entries, and talks about the challenges and the rewards of this unique competition. The CDs and the 2009 entry forms are available at www.sappi.com/PrintersOfTheYear.