31 July was Judgement Day for the inaugural PrintWeek India Awards presented by Canon. The judges met at the Four Seasons in Mumbai to consider the 300 entries submitted by 80 printers in 21 categories.

The jury felt that the entries were of good quality. The fact that there were 17 quality categories, encompassing the entire gamut of the print business, made for some exciting judging, said Jim James, publisher of PrintWeek India and director, Haymarket Media India. "I can confidently say that we had a superb panel who took their jobs seriously," he added.

The four performance-linked categories were judged by a professional auditor.

The Awards were launched in February 2009 – and most printers in India saw this as a marketing tool for their businesses. "An award isn’t for a single job, its for a body of work. That’s why we insisted on four print samples. Once a company sends four entries they can also show their clients and future clients the quality of craftsmanship that their company is capable of," stated James.

This was something the judges concurred with. "The quality of design and production was incredible. It was difficult eliminating some of the entries," said awards judge Puja Marwaha, the director at CRY, one of the best known NGOs in the country.

"I liked the variety of image styles – black and white, duotone, four-colour – along with the variety of paper. Some of the typography was clean, simple and elegant. There were interesting print jobs that had great finishing," stated Ashish Khazanchi of Publicis India Communication, a leading ad agency.

The judgement process was unique. The identity of all the entries were concealed in order to ensure elimination of any bias. It was much more than that. "The evaluation process itself, involving multiple independent judges and comprehensive analysis of each entry nominated, sets high standards for rigour independence and professionalism," said Chinmay Dandekar, manager for packaging development at Parle Agro.

Amit Navarange, production manager at Conde Nast was pleased. He stated, "We are so busy with our own work that we’re unaware of recent trends in print. Some of the coating jobs and spot UV was excellent. As well as four colour jobs with extra colour gamut." The other judges agreed.

The details of who has won will be revealed in the September 2009 issue of PrintWeek India. Winners will be honoured on 25 October 2009 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.


FEEDBACK FROM THE JURY
Sanjay Jain
President and CMO,
Reliance Capital
"It was a learning experience. Some of the print jobs not only grabbed your attention but were captivating. Even annual reports, which are supposed to be uninteresting, had amazing differentiation. I was impressed with the effects of printing and finishing techniques, that help make the mundane printed stuff stand out and forces you to pick it up. It will be interesting to involve printers and understand the practicalities so that the material can be communicative and effective."

Indrajit Sen
President,
Laqshya Media
"Despite our intense involvement with digital large format printing, it was quite a revelation to see the advancement in all facets and aspects of printing technology that has happened in India. Both by virtue of sophistication of equipment available as well as skills, I would say we have access to world-class printing facilities in India today. Some of the entries that we had the privilege to judge were simply superlative – from design concept to rendition – these were perfection to the core."

Purushottam Kumar
Executive - Packaging Development,
L’Oreal India
"For me the judging process has been learning from experience. Some of the special effects used on packaged products was impressive. It allows brand owners to differentiate and add value to their products. At L’Oreal, visual aesthetics reproduced accurately are more important than product details on the package. In this regard, I found some of the work to be truly efficient. Already the success of the awards has been impressive, as I saw fellow jurors enthusiastic about contacting printers, whose jobs they have evaluated, once the process is over."

Sanjay Tripathy
Executive Vice President & Head - Marketing
HDFC Standard Life
"It was a privilege to be part of the jury for PrintWeek Awards. It was extremely encouraging to see the large number of entries in the first year
of the awards. As the print industry in India is growing exponentially, recognising excellence in this area will add a fillip to the industry and motivate people to excel. The improvement I would like to see next year is for organisations to read entry criteria carefully before entering and enter in the right category. It is imperative that each and every printer sends four print samples.


ABOUT PRINTWEEK INDIA
PrintWeek, Haymarket Media Group’s UK print trade weekly launched PrintWeek India in May 2008. PrintWeek India, reaches out to more than 350 cities and has a print run of 11,000 copies.

PrintWeek, which has been published in the UK since 1958, is now also published in Russia, the Ukraine, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

PrintWeek India is published by Haymarket Media (India), publishers of Campaign India, Autocar, What Hi Fi, Stuff.


ABOUT CANON SPONSORING PRINTWEEK INDIA AWARDS
Canon India is the main title sponsor for the inaugural PrintWeek India Awards.

Puneet Datta, senior manager marketing, business imaging solutions division said that with the sponsorship Canon aims to build upon the company’s success in India. "This includes strengthening ties between Canon and the Indian print industry. Canon is commited to providing solutions to the digital segment."