Business News
LABEL GURU ANNOUNCED AS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WINNER
Wednesday 24. June 2009 - A panel of label industry experts has reviewed the votes for the 2009 Label Industry Global Awards and is pleased to announce the winner of the prestigious R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award is the well-known label consultant, Michael Fairley.
He was selected as the overall winner by the international label industry judging panel at the FINAT/ESD Congress in Antalya following a review of the online votes against the criteria. The award is sponsored by Avery Dennison.
Widely regarded as the label industry ‘guru’, Mike Fairley has been writing and talking about labels for more than 30 years. As both the founder of Labels & Labeling and the Cowise International Publishing Group (now part of Tarsus Group) and a successful industry consultant, he has consistently been at the forefront of introducing the latest innovations in label materials, technology, markets and applications, as well helping label industry supplier and converter companies to implement their education, training and marketing strategies.
He has written or contributed to many label technical and market reports, including those for Frost & Sullivan, Economist Intelligence Unit, Info Trends and PIRA, as well as for his own consultancy company and been a regular speaker at label industry and association conferences, summits and congresses throughout Europe, as well as in North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, India, Israel, Japan, China and Turkey. He has also written the ‘Label Converting in?’ series of reports for Labels & Labeling.
Chairman of the judging panel, Helmut Schreiner, commented: “The entire judging panel felt honored to have the opportunity to recognize Michael’s lifetime achievement. In our opinion he has been building bridges for several decades between suppliers and converters, between countries and their people, and between the present and the future to new market segments, niches, technical materials and, perhaps most importantly, a new way of thinking. There is no large and powerful company standing behind Michael. This particular award is given strictly to an individual and his personal achievement. We look forward to celebrating with Michael and the rest of the industry at the Awards evening on the first night of Labelexpo Europe 2009.”
Most recently Michael has been the author of the best selling Encyclopedia of Labels and Label Technology, editor of the RFID Smart Labels – ‘How to?’ guide and co-author of a new Encyclopedia of Brand Protection and Security Printing Technology. In total he has written or contributed to some 10 technical and reference books on labels, printing and packaging.
He is currently Director Strategic Development for the Labels Group at Tarsus Exhibitions and Publishing and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Printing and the Institute of Packaging, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Stationers, and a Licentiate of the City & Guilds of London Institute. The panel of international judges also announced the finalists in the other Awards categories. The winners will be revealed at the award ceremony and gala dinner at the Albert Hall in Brussels, on the evening of the 23 September – the opening day of Labelexpo Europe 2009.
The 2009 finalists are:
European Converter of the Year – sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web
Marzek
Pago
Rako
Label Industry Award for Continuous Innovation – sponsored by Labels & Labeling, NarroWebTech and Label & Narrow Web
Codimag
Esko Artwork
Flint Group
Label Industry Award for New Innovation
EFI
Erhardt und Leimer
Kodak
Judges for this year’s Awards, under the chairmanship of Helmut Schreiner, Managing Director of Schreiner Group, were Andrea Vimercati, new President of FINAT, John Hickey, former Chairman of the Board, TLMI, Andy Thomas, Editor of Labels & Labeling, and Tony White, Editor of NarroWebTech.