Offset Patel and all things print at PrintWeek India Awards 2015

It was above all a celebration of print. And the seventh edition of the PrintWeek India Awards, held at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai on 7 October, was a reunion of sorts, where the industry leaders from 20 cities of the country came together to celebrate the power of print, and to commend their peers for their well-deserved success.

08 Oct 2015 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma

This is what makes the PrintWeek India Awards unique among all industry awards. It is here that every winning job is not just the testament of the said print firm’s success; it is also the testament of success of the industry as a whole, from print buyers, planners, and designers to those who operate the machines and those who stand before the colour monitors.
 
Thus, it was perhaps understandable when Gautham Pai of Manipal Technologies thanked his workforce after winning the coveted Printweek India Company of the Year Award. This is the third time Manipal has won the award, this time beating off a stiff competition from seven deserving companies, all of whom have the clout to win the Award at any given night.
 
Tanvi Parekh, online editor, PrintWeek India, who masterminded the entire Awards process over the past six months said, "This year, the bar was higher than ever. There were 113 companies which sent 1200-plus print samples to choose from, and finally, the esteemed Jury selected 28 firms to be the best among the equals in 20 quality and six performance categories."
 
Besides Manipal, the big winners of the night were Replika Press as the Post-Press Company of the Year, for five times in a row; New Delhi’s Any Graphics also took home the Label Printer of the Year Award for the fourth time. For Marvel Graphic Studio, it was a record, as the company was given the Prism in the Fine Art Printer of the Year category for the fifth time.
 
Among other big winners, Hyderabad’s Pragati won three awards (in Brochure and Catalogue, Luxury Packaging and PUR Book Making) and Silverpoint Press took home two Prisms (Cross Media and Magazine).
 
There were also several first-time winners – Sivakasi’s SFA Print, Delhi’s Chanakya Mudrak, Mumbai’s First Impression, Neat Graphics, Brandmark Solutions, DMA Yellow Works, Synthesis Communication, Print Plus, and Mazda Imaging.
 
The highlight of this year’s Awards was the launch of The PrintWeek Studio. Tanvi Parekh, the online editor, introduced this online repository of the best and innovative print jobs from print firms across the country, for the industry to see, admire and to learn from. More on the website is at theprintweekstudio.in
 
The Awards show started with a fun play, A Tale of Offset Patel, about the mad world of print in Hinglish, which had a full-house audience in splits.
 
This was followed by a speech by the chief guest of the evening, Kevin Flynn, president and managing director for India operations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles India. In his rousing speech, Flynn, while reiterating that print does not have anything to worry about digital media, talked about the importance of branding, whether it is a print firm or an automotive giant.
 
The Awards ceremony was hosted by the film and theatre actor Denzil Smith, he of the high-octane baritone. 
 
NDTV Profit will telecast the Awards Night. Follow PrintWeek India to know more.         
 
The details of the Award winners and the commended shortlisted companies will be published in the 10 October issue.