11.20.15
WS Packaging Group takes the top prize in the 2015 TLMI Label Awards for its Meguiar’s Paint Protect label. In addition to the Best of Show distinction, the entry also won Best of Class honors in the Multi-Process category. Joining WS Packaging in taking home Best of Class awards are entries from Collotype Labels, ASL Print FX Ltd., Collotype Labels North American Wine and Spirits, Inland, and McDowell Label & Screen Printing. Notably, McDowell Label took home the most accolades overall with 11 First Place and six Second Place awards.
There were a total of 48 First Place and 26 Second Place awards handed out. This year’s competition saw entries submitted from all over the world, coming from the US, Mexico, Canada, the UK, Poland, China and Australia.
Emphasis in judging these labels is placed on innovation and technical achievement. The 2015 judging committee, chaired by Paul Teachout of Nilpeter USA, included Richard Black, All Printing Resources; Mike Buystedt, Flint Group Narrow Web; J. Page Crouch, Clemson University; Andre Blais, Gallus; Jim Harris, Actega WIT; John Hickey, Domino; Robbie King, Harper Corporation of America; Ray Mackura, Avery Dennison; Michael Rivera, K Laser Technology (USA); Steve Schulte, Mark Andy; and Robert Wray, Nilpeter USA
Best of Show
Best of Class – Multi-Process
First Place, North American
Category: Multi-Process - Color Process - Prime
WS Packaging Group, Inc.
Entry: Meguiar's Paint Protect
Description/Challenges: Presenting a special challenge was achieving the 5 mm lift on screen tactile, all while keeping registration of the spot gloss varnish around the type and water droplets through multiple processes.
End Use: Automotive product, plastic bottle, front label
Best of Class – Digital
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Digital Printing / Toner - Color Process - Prime
Collotype Labels
Entry: Tres Manos, Añejo Tequila
Description/Challenges: Challenges included aligning the foiling, embossing, and diecutting to the pre-printed Indigo process over a large label with a special shape. The production sequence was Indigo printing, foil stamping, embossing, flood UV matte varnish, spot UV gloss varnish and diecutting. The finished product achieved the vision of the graphic designer and met client expectations.
End Use: Spirits label
2nd Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Toner - Color - Process - Prime
Creative Labels of Vermont
Entry: JK Adams 14" Walnut Lazy Susan
Description/Challenges: The challenge was in meeting the customer’s and designer’s quality needs while supplying a label whose adhesive would work perfectly with a wood-oiled product.
End use: Household goods
Best of Class – Offset – Wine & Spirits
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Line & Screen/Tone - Prime
Collotype Labels North American Wine and Spirits
Entry: Hidden Crush, 2014 Pinot Noir
Description/Challenges: This job called for uncoated paper, seven offset colors, hot foil stamping, overprinting, silkscreen varnish, flexo matte varnish, flatbed sculpt embossing and flat diecutting – all one pass.
End Use: Wine label
Best of Class – Flexography – Wine & Spirits
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Flexography / Letterpress - Color Process - Prime
ASL Print FX Ltd.
Entry: Night Glider, 2013 Pelee Island Winery
Description/Challenges: There was a challenge regarding the requirement to create a night sky that glittered with "diamonds in the sky" without taking away from the flying squirrel brand image.
End Use: Wine label
1st Place, North American
Category: Gravure - Line/Prime
National Label Company
Entry: Energizer EcoAdvanced AA
Description/Challenges: The customer required extremely tight application tolerances, so diecutting and slitting required tight controls. A trim and perf diecut system was used to prevent movement. Energizer wanted to promote its new Eco Advanced alkaline batteries made from recycled content, so the typical silver material was replaced with ink to avoid waste from metalization. Also, the label must function as a barrier to prevent static charge to the end user, so materials were selected carefully.
End Use: Consumer electronics – batteries
1st Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Toner - Color Process - Prime
Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Entry: 1911 Founders' Reserve Heritage Dry Hard Cider
Description/Challenges: The printer utilized the variable data capabilities of the HP Indigo WS6600 in printing the words Heritage Dry in the flavor box. The customer wanted a handwritten look with multiple signed Heritage Dry variations.
End Use: Beer and cider, glass bottle, front label
1st Place, International
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Line/Prime Collotype
Labels International Holdings Pty Ltd.
Entry: Diavolo, 2010 Shiraz Cabernet
Description/Challenges: The job required printing four colors then a duct matte varnish, followed by a silver foil and a gold ink, plus a screen highbuild using "DW" screen mesh and a spot matte varnish on an uncoated stock.
End use: Wine label
Best of Class – Flexography & Letterpress
1st Place, North American
Category: Promotional
McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Entry: The Curse!
Description/Challenges: This handout store promotion label was created on a pressure sensitive silver board material. The tricky part, along with the tight register diecut, was to blend the process image along with a heavy solid black background.
End Use: Promotional label
1st Place, North American
Category: Non-Pressure Sensitive - All Processes/Cut & Stack - Color Process - Prime
Inland
Entry: Hormel Buffalo Style Chicken
Description/Challenges: The ready-to-heat food container presented a special challenge because it is a full coverage IML container. In order to successfully print this label so that the container could be molded, Inland needed to ensure that its diecut tolerance capabilities were extremely tight.
End Use: Food & beverage, ready-to-heat food container, full coverage tub and lid label
1st Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Inkjet - Color Process - Prime
Digital Label Solutions, Inc.
Entry: Voluspa
Description/Challenges: The top challenge primarily encountered with this label was not only achieving a double-sided, perfectly registered label, but to guarantee a visually appealing outcome. This label was the discovery of a new capability for the company: The use of reverse printing, white ink, and a second pass of printing created a double-sided silver label that would have normally only been offered on a white substrate.
End Use: Health & beauty, fragrance bottle, front label
2nd Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Color Process – Prime
Artcraft Label Inc.
Entry: Fourth Floor – Be Spoke Chardonnay
Description/Challenges: Among the challenges was printing a full process image with varying tonal background with an objective of a match base color. Also, porous stock required dense ink laydown.
End Use: Private label – wine, fine dining
Best of Class – Other
1st Place, North American
Category: Non-Pressure Sensitive - All Processes / Cut & Stack - Line/Prime
Inland
Entry: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Description/Challenges: Because this label is manufactured using a multi-process printing method, there was a special challenge to overcome regarding registration. While manufacturing the label, during the offset process, there was a need to ensure that the registration was lined up perfectly for the foil stamping process.
End Use: Food & beverage, beer bottle, front label
1st Place, International
Category: Wine & Spirits - Flexography / Letterpress - Line/Prime
Collotype Labels, UK Ltd.
Entry: City of London Dry Gin
Description/Challenges: The challenge was to print on the adhesive and remove the internal cutout using a spring-loaded tool.
End use: Wine and spirits, main front label
There were a total of 48 First Place and 26 Second Place awards handed out. This year’s competition saw entries submitted from all over the world, coming from the US, Mexico, Canada, the UK, Poland, China and Australia.
Emphasis in judging these labels is placed on innovation and technical achievement. The 2015 judging committee, chaired by Paul Teachout of Nilpeter USA, included Richard Black, All Printing Resources; Mike Buystedt, Flint Group Narrow Web; J. Page Crouch, Clemson University; Andre Blais, Gallus; Jim Harris, Actega WIT; John Hickey, Domino; Robbie King, Harper Corporation of America; Ray Mackura, Avery Dennison; Michael Rivera, K Laser Technology (USA); Steve Schulte, Mark Andy; and Robert Wray, Nilpeter USA
Best of Show
Best of Class – Multi-Process
First Place, North American
Category: Multi-Process - Color Process - Prime
WS Packaging Group, Inc.
Entry: Meguiar's Paint Protect
Description/Challenges: Presenting a special challenge was achieving the 5 mm lift on screen tactile, all while keeping registration of the spot gloss varnish around the type and water droplets through multiple processes.
End Use: Automotive product, plastic bottle, front label
Best of Class – Digital
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Digital Printing / Toner - Color Process - Prime
Collotype Labels
Entry: Tres Manos, Añejo Tequila
Description/Challenges: Challenges included aligning the foiling, embossing, and diecutting to the pre-printed Indigo process over a large label with a special shape. The production sequence was Indigo printing, foil stamping, embossing, flood UV matte varnish, spot UV gloss varnish and diecutting. The finished product achieved the vision of the graphic designer and met client expectations.
End Use: Spirits label
2nd Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Toner - Color - Process - Prime
Creative Labels of Vermont
Entry: JK Adams 14" Walnut Lazy Susan
Description/Challenges: The challenge was in meeting the customer’s and designer’s quality needs while supplying a label whose adhesive would work perfectly with a wood-oiled product.
End use: Household goods
Best of Class – Offset – Wine & Spirits
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Line & Screen/Tone - Prime
Collotype Labels North American Wine and Spirits
Entry: Hidden Crush, 2014 Pinot Noir
Description/Challenges: This job called for uncoated paper, seven offset colors, hot foil stamping, overprinting, silkscreen varnish, flexo matte varnish, flatbed sculpt embossing and flat diecutting – all one pass.
End Use: Wine label
Best of Class – Flexography – Wine & Spirits
1st Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Flexography / Letterpress - Color Process - Prime
ASL Print FX Ltd.
Entry: Night Glider, 2013 Pelee Island Winery
Description/Challenges: There was a challenge regarding the requirement to create a night sky that glittered with "diamonds in the sky" without taking away from the flying squirrel brand image.
End Use: Wine label
1st Place, North American
Category: Gravure - Line/Prime
National Label Company
Entry: Energizer EcoAdvanced AA
Description/Challenges: The customer required extremely tight application tolerances, so diecutting and slitting required tight controls. A trim and perf diecut system was used to prevent movement. Energizer wanted to promote its new Eco Advanced alkaline batteries made from recycled content, so the typical silver material was replaced with ink to avoid waste from metalization. Also, the label must function as a barrier to prevent static charge to the end user, so materials were selected carefully.
End Use: Consumer electronics – batteries
1st Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Toner - Color Process - Prime
Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Entry: 1911 Founders' Reserve Heritage Dry Hard Cider
Description/Challenges: The printer utilized the variable data capabilities of the HP Indigo WS6600 in printing the words Heritage Dry in the flavor box. The customer wanted a handwritten look with multiple signed Heritage Dry variations.
End Use: Beer and cider, glass bottle, front label
1st Place, International
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Line/Prime Collotype
Labels International Holdings Pty Ltd.
Entry: Diavolo, 2010 Shiraz Cabernet
Description/Challenges: The job required printing four colors then a duct matte varnish, followed by a silver foil and a gold ink, plus a screen highbuild using "DW" screen mesh and a spot matte varnish on an uncoated stock.
End use: Wine label
Best of Class – Flexography & Letterpress
1st Place, North American
Category: Promotional
McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Entry: The Curse!
Description/Challenges: This handout store promotion label was created on a pressure sensitive silver board material. The tricky part, along with the tight register diecut, was to blend the process image along with a heavy solid black background.
End Use: Promotional label
1st Place, North American
Category: Non-Pressure Sensitive - All Processes/Cut & Stack - Color Process - Prime
Inland
Entry: Hormel Buffalo Style Chicken
Description/Challenges: The ready-to-heat food container presented a special challenge because it is a full coverage IML container. In order to successfully print this label so that the container could be molded, Inland needed to ensure that its diecut tolerance capabilities were extremely tight.
End Use: Food & beverage, ready-to-heat food container, full coverage tub and lid label
1st Place, North American
Category: Digital Printing / Inkjet - Color Process - Prime
Digital Label Solutions, Inc.
Entry: Voluspa
Description/Challenges: The top challenge primarily encountered with this label was not only achieving a double-sided, perfectly registered label, but to guarantee a visually appealing outcome. This label was the discovery of a new capability for the company: The use of reverse printing, white ink, and a second pass of printing created a double-sided silver label that would have normally only been offered on a white substrate.
End Use: Health & beauty, fragrance bottle, front label
2nd Place, North American
Category: Wine & Spirits - Offset - Color Process – Prime
Artcraft Label Inc.
Entry: Fourth Floor – Be Spoke Chardonnay
Description/Challenges: Among the challenges was printing a full process image with varying tonal background with an objective of a match base color. Also, porous stock required dense ink laydown.
End Use: Private label – wine, fine dining
Best of Class – Other
1st Place, North American
Category: Non-Pressure Sensitive - All Processes / Cut & Stack - Line/Prime
Inland
Entry: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Description/Challenges: Because this label is manufactured using a multi-process printing method, there was a special challenge to overcome regarding registration. While manufacturing the label, during the offset process, there was a need to ensure that the registration was lined up perfectly for the foil stamping process.
End Use: Food & beverage, beer bottle, front label
1st Place, International
Category: Wine & Spirits - Flexography / Letterpress - Line/Prime
Collotype Labels, UK Ltd.
Entry: City of London Dry Gin
Description/Challenges: The challenge was to print on the adhesive and remove the internal cutout using a spring-loaded tool.
End use: Wine and spirits, main front label