Lancashire-based BMP, Hampshire-based De La Rue and Leicester-based Taylor Bloxham all received awards in the innovation category, while Oxfordshire-based Seacourt won an award for sustainable development.

Despite the relatively strong print showing, Taylor Bloxham managing director Peter Hammond said he did not consider innovation to be a prevalent ideal among UK printers. “I think people are just happy to put ink on paper as cheap as possible,” he said.

Taylor Bloxham, which has spent £9m on new equipment and more than £1m on research and development over the past four years, was recognised for its development of “a new technique of highly accurate colour reproduction”.

Hammond described the process as a derivative of hexachrome. “It’s repro and machine-led using specific screening techniques on our 12-colour presses,” he said.

Meanwhile, manufacturer BMP was recognised for its work on paper transport rollers for high-speed digital printers. De La Rue Currency won its award for its StarChrome wide-windowed, optically variable banknote security thread.

Seacourt’s sustainable development award was granted for its strategy to reduce its environmental impact. Managing director Gareth Dinnage told the Oxford Mail that sustainability was a major selling point at the company, which has pursued a green policy since 1997.