Besides, your clients already think you’re good, your staff seem happy enough and frankly you can probably think of a dozen things you would rather do right now than trawl through your sample archive to pick four of your finest jobs from past year, let alone write a 250- or 500-word summary on your business. So why bother?
“The reason why people should enter is simple: recognition,” says Mark Cruise, BskyB head of print management.
That recognition can take many forms: it could be for your staff, for all of their hard work; your clients, for all of their great projects; from your industry peers for your great business acumen; or perhaps recognition from the clients of your rivals?
Don’t take our word for it though, take the word of some of the 2013 PrintWeek Award winners instead…
PERFORMANCE AWARDS
Company of the Year
SME of the Year
Cross-media Company of the Year
Customer Service Team of the Year
Environmental Company of the Year
NEW FOR 2014 Marketing Campaign of the Year – This award is for the best self-marketing campaign or strategy carried out by a printer to promote itself. This category is open print firms of all sizes
Trainee of the Year
QUALITY AWARDS
Bespoke Digital Printer of the year
Book Printer of the Year
Brochure Printer of the Year
Catalogue Printer of the Year
Direct Mail Printer of the Year
Fine Art Printer of the Year
FMCG Packaging Printer of the Year
Industrial Digital Printer of the Year
Label Printer of the Year
Luxury Packaging Printer of the Year
Magazine Printer of the Year
Newspaper Printer of the Year
Point-of-Purchase Printer of the Year
Post-Press Company of the Year
Poster Printer of the Year
Report & Accounts Printer of the Year
Social Stationery Printer of the Year
Entry deadline: 3 July 2014
For more information, visit www.printweekawards.com
Judges' top tips
“Read the entry requirements very carefully and supply anything that you think is needed to best judge your entry” Mark Cruise BSkyB
“If your submission is structural, it’s always worth spending some time to erect it or send it in ready-built” Gregory Bentley Coca-Cola Europe
“Remember to closely inspect the samples you provide, because you can be sure that the judges will” Ryan Hennessey The AA
“It always helps to have a comment from the customer describing how the entry helped meet their commercial goals” Claire Piipponen L’Oreal
“Take as much care over your written submissions as you did to produce the items you’re entering. An otherwise excellent entry can be let down by a weak explanation” Amanda Lovelock Honda Print Management
Winners’ verdicts
“Winning the Label Printer of the Year Award last year was a big event for us. We got a lot of feedback from our current customer base suggesting that seeing this had helped to reinforce their decision-making. It has also made an impact on the wider supply chain; where previously we were dealing largely with the buyers, now we have greater credibility with the design and marketing teams” Stuart Kellock, managing director, Label Apeel
“Creative printing is experiencing a renaissance. The PrintWeek Awards are a welcome and useful shop window for excellence in our industry. They are invaluable for us as a business in all sorts of ways. Win or lose, entering the PrintWeek Awards helps us improve” Richard Owers, director Pureprint Group
“Just taking the first step and actually entering the awards sends a great message to everyone involved in your business, inside and out. That you are prepared to put yourself up against the rest of the industry and be independently judged sends a strong message. It sets the bar for what you are trying to achieve” David Houghton, joint managing director, D2 Printing
“No words can describe the feeling of winning a PrintWeek Award and the impact it has on the business and your people. Just to be nominated is a fantastic achievement and the anticipation on the night of having your name called out as the winner is simply indescribable” Noel Warner, chief executive, Inc Direct
“We had some lovely approaches from major new direct accounts as a result of our win at the PrintWeek Awards. What was really satisfying was that some were guests of other printers at the Awards ceremony. Mind you I may have lost some that way in the past too” Alan Padbury, managing director, Westdale Press
