Pragati won gold for Vodafone Moments 2008 diary in the general print category and for the Pragati 2008 Wall Calendar in the printer's own promotion category.

Silverpoint Press was the gold winner in the catalogues category for its Colour Styles Nerolac Paints catalogue.

The judges' comments regarding Pragati Offset's gold awards were very complimentary: "The Vodafone diary was a wonderful piece using printing techniques on different papers with a suitable practical finishing process.

"And the Pragati 2008 wall calendar was a very nice piece, well designed with clear and clean typography. The use of effects, although limited, was only used where effects were best suited."

Pragati is no stranger to winning at the awards – it has been winning Sappi awards since its inception in Asia from 2001 and holds a record for winning four gold in 2004.

P Narendra of Pragati Offset attributes the strong showing to passion and a dedicated team. He said: "We were happy to win two gold. I must say I wasn't surprised that our calendar won a gold. We expected that.

"The second one for Vodafone added to our happiness. When we take out jobs and submit them for awards, we do so as we think that it has that something extra in it. Whenever we submit, we want to win."

With regard to the Silverpoint win, the judges' said: "It was very difficult to make a choice in this category, but the quality of print and technique in the winning entry were well developed. The finishing and complementary colours used were very well done."

This was the first year that Silverpoint participated in Sappi and it admitted that winning the gold was a surprise, but attributed the sucess to "unfailing teamwork".

Judging of the Sappi awards is an elaborate process; each entry is assigned a unique number to ensure impartiality and anonymity throughout the judging process, and winners are identified once the awards have been allocated.

The primary criterion for evaluation is technical excellence, besides overall impact, degree of difficulty in the execution and quality of finishing of the print job.