Business News
Sappi leverages time and excellence in changes to International Printers of the Year Competition
Monday 13. October 2008 - The value of quality printing has never been in doubt. Since 1995, Sappi, the worlds leading producer of coated fine paper, has recognised and rewarded excellence in print through the Sappi International Printers of the Year Competition.
These prestigious awards have been called the “Oscars” of the print industry and have established the global benchmark against which any high-quality printer can measure themselves. Given the significant value that such an award brings to the printer, Sappi has announced that the competition will in future be held on a biennial basis. This will provide the winning printers at regional and international level with substantial additional benefit.
André Oberholzer, Group Head of Corporate Affairs at Sappi Limited explains the changes: “At Sappi, we have a long-standing tradition of innovation which encompasses not just products, but also underpins our approach to doing business. Over the years, we have made adjustments to the competition to take account of new trends and developments and in line with feedback from our target market – incorporating changes in technology and printing processes into the judging criteria and expanding the international award to include nine winners being just some of the changes.”
Essentially, the commercial value of the competition is being expanded for the winning printers and more time is being allowed between awards in order for Sappi and merchants to engage with printers to assist them to further leverage the benefits of being selected as a Sappi Printer of the Year.
The first award ceremonies in the new format will take place in 2010, for works printed during 2008 and 2009. Consequently, there will be no regional or international events in 2009.
As Oberholzer points out, getting to the world stage requires skill, dedication and commitment which involves going the extra mile. “Accordingly, it makes sense once printers have reached the world stage, to leave the spotlight on them longer and more intensely. This seems to be a common denominator for many competitions around the world in every field which recognise excellence – from the Olympics and the World Cup Soccer, from the Americas Cup to the Venice Biennale, the worlds major contemporary art exhibition. “
Being one of the winning printers in the competition has proven to have significant commercial value. Sappi will be leveraging this value by profiling winners on www.sappi.com, making more editorial content available regarding the importance and value of print excellence, engaging more with corporate end-users and print specifiers to increase the awareness of print and engaging more with the design community to inform designers about the critical role printers play in executing their work.
Recognising the importance of the triple bottom line approach to doing business and the fact that consumers and markets are increasingly “going green”, Sappi is currently investigating how best to incorporate recognition of the importance of sustainability and corporate responsibility into the competition.
All the winning printers in this years competition will have a two-year period in which to benefit from being a current winner. Sappi will be working even more closely with winning printers to promote their award-winning status both regionally and internationally and will be encouraging printers to enter all qualifying work on at least a quarterly basis.
What will not change is the fact that the awards will continue to take place at inspiring locations around the world and will continue to celebrate the power of print and hold high the torch of excellence.