Can PrintWeek Awards 2025 better the flair and finesse the 2024 edition revealed? — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

On the judging table, it looked harmless. A slim, square children’s book, modest in dimension, resting beside towering cartons with holographic foils and gravure-printed laminates. The humble children’s book stood out The Three Little Pigs, produced by Brijbasi Art Press for The Little Theatre, wasn’t just printed — it was performed.

Open the cover, and the book unfolds into a miniature stage. There are foam pop-ups, layered tunnels, flaps, sliders, pull-tabs and QR codes that trigger sound effects — each pig’s house brought to life with architecture and surprise. Every unit was hand-assembled, inspected, and packed as a show in a box.

That moment — when the judges stopped flipping and started marvelling — captured the mood of the 2024 PrintWeek Awards. This wasn’t about size. It wasn’t about technology. It was about the singular ability of print to turn ideas into experience. From wall-mounted PET bottles to lenticular cartons, textured wedding albums to mono-material pouches, print did not compete with the future — it invented one.

The packaging revolution will be printed
If there was a category where audacity met execution, it was packaging. The submissions were less about protection and more about performance. They didn’t just wrap — they whispered, shouted, persuaded.

Sai Paks delivered six mono-carton designs that blended a ballet of processes: silver board, reverse printing, foil stamping, deep embossing, lenticular lenses and a side-serving of soft-touch lamination. These cartons were designed not just to stand out on shelves, but to move smoothly on high-speed packing lines. The precision was surgical. Alignment was maintained across substrates, and colour depth held up under both daylight and LED.

Jupiter Laminators came with an ecological counterpunch: kraft-look pouches made of metallised BOPP and CPP that were PET-free and fully recyclable. The converter’s internal QA logs — submitted to the jury — showed no curl, zero lamination delamination and an impressive heat seal curve. The machines? Customised eight-colour gravure and Nordmeccanica solventless laminators, all tuned for minimal ink and zero over-registration.

Manjushree Technopack went sculptural. A PET bottle for handwash, designed to mount on walls in premium hotels, featured a rear spout and no outer wrap. The bottle was injection-moulded, digitally labelled, tested for torque, drop and chemical compatibility, and — impressively — engineered for refill reuse without microbial compromise. This wasn’t just packaging. It was FMCG engineering at par with the world’s best.

S&S Packaging submitted cartons with holographic lamination and registered foil for the tobacco segment. High-gloss and high-speed aren’t easy companions, but S&S proved it possible with gravure-printed silver boards and Bobst die-cutting. The foils danced under light, while the type remained razor-sharp.

Helios Packaging’s dual-core laminate tubes, designed for cosmetics, ran on Gallus hybrid flexo lines with inline rotary screen and metallic varnish. The tactile finishes, mirrored registration and reseal features made the tubes elegant and practical — a rare feat. Every entry suggested one thing: packaging is no longer a cost centre. It is a value engine. A message carrier. And for Indian converters, it is where ambition meets shelf impact.

Sustainability beyond buzzwords
The green entries last year weren’t labelled “eco-friendly” as afterthoughts. Sustainability was engineered from the ground up — in substrates, supply chains, solvents and strategy.

Multivista Global turned heads with a textbook job for a Tamil Nadu government board. The project involved 1.33 million copies and spanned four formats. Most printers would laminate to improve shelf life. Multivista didn’t. Instead, they replaced lamination with aqueous coating — a decision that saved over 9.3 tonnes of plastic. But they didn’t stop there. They rewrote their drying cycles to cut energy by 23% and optimised form imposition to reduce plate usage. The result: a ₹17-lakh reduction in overall cost and a cleaner process.

Lipi International, from its Nagpur unit, showcased transactional printing with a sustainability spine. Their plant ran on 1.79 GWh of solar energy, recycled 15,000 litres of water daily, and maintained a print error rate of under 0.8%. In a sector often driven by brutal speed and price pressure, Lipi’s entry showed how to balance precision and principle.

Replika Press stayed classic but rigorous. Their entries — a mix of collector’s editions and academic texts — used FSC-certified substrates, water-based inks and smart scheduling to reduce makeready wastage. The jury noted that the firm’s colour consistency across multiple editions was not just visual but verifiable, thanks to calibrated Heidelberg XL presses and tight CTP workflows.

One innovation came in sticker form. The company ran cold foil embellishments and security features on compostable film — with variable data intact. Simulated metallics were produced without metal layers. The durability matched conventional stock, making the label not just biodegradable, but commercially viable. Another gift kit used no plastic. Boards were made from post-consumer waste. Adhesion came from folds and locking cuts, not glue. The final product looked anything but recycled — a reminder that sustainable design doesn’t have to feel compromised.

Across entries, the message was consistent: sustainability is no longer an aspiration. It is an operating model. The best work wasn’t just green. It was greener than the last job, and a blueprint for the next.

Technology as storyteller
If the craft was old, the tools were not. The 2024 entries made it clear: technology wasn’t just a process enabler — it was the storyteller itself.

Silverpoint Press utilised their HP Indigo 100K to produce luxury brochures featuring textured stock, clear varnish, foil, and multi-pass white — all within a variable data environment. The results rivalled offset in fidelity, and surpassed it in turnaround and flexibility. Every page told a story; every switch in finishing echoed intent.

Canon’s DreamLabo 5000, used by Photopark Digital Press, produced photographic albums with 2400dpi resolution, extraordinary tonal gradients, and unmatched vibrancy. In combination with suede covers and cherry-wood cases, the result wasn’t just output — it was artefact.

Gallus’s hybrid inkjet-flexo press at Letra Graphix printed wine labels with tactile varnish and CMYK+ simulation of emboss and foil. The machine’s precision allowed multi-substrate runs, combining visual appeal with razor-sharp type across textures.

Afflatus Gravure's gravure lines featured solventless lamination, laser-engraved cylinders, and press diagnostics that fed back into workflow planning — ensuring 55,000 unique artworks were produced in just over a year with less than 1.2% wastage.

This was not about brands of machines. It was about the intelligence in how they were used. The layering of analogue craftsmanship and digital customisation gave Indian print a new voice — adaptable, confident, world-class.

Print as sensory theatre
One unmissable trend across categories was tactility. Print didn’t just appeal to the eye — it engaged the hand, the ear, even scent. Photopark’s albums invited touch. Textured board. Velvet casing. Laser-cut wood. The albums were circular, spiral-bound, encased in cherrywood — each month a new chapter of a child’s life, printed with breathtaking image sharpness.

Sai Paks and S&S Packaging toyed with lenticular effects, soft-touch matte varnishes, and glow-in-the-dark ink. Their cartons behaved differently under varying light and temperature conditions, triggering subconscious consumer interactions at the point of sale.

Archana Advertising’s SH Raza book blended matte art paper, foil accents, acrylic slipcases and spot UV. It felt like a retrospective in a box — where typography, colour, and substrate came together in perfect curatorial rhythm.

Letra Graphix’s wine labels used emboss-simulated varnish. TCPL Packaging, The Glow & Lovely face serum entry came in a 100% sustainable and biodegradable pack. It was printed on a holographic transfer metalised board, achieving the same sheen as metPET.

Every entry told us this: in an increasingly screen-first world, print’s power lies in touch. And India’s best printers have mastered the language of physical experience.

The comeback of the printed book
In an era of short-form everything, long-form publishing found an unlikely hero — Indian printers. Books, monographs, academic volumes and photo albums made a thunderous comeback in 2024 — but with new rules.

Replika’s The Hobbit collector’s edition was case-bound, foil-stamped, dyed on all edges, and came with ribbon bookmarks. The typography was treated with reverence. The finishing was as close to museum grade as it gets.

Multivista’s toddler-proof books had rounded corners, non-toxic coatings, and pages so durable they could be scrubbed clean. A masterclass in durability without compromise on colour or clarity.

Small runs, big ambition
2024 also belonged to the audacious small player. SA Graphics ran chikki pouches in four SKUs on gang-run gravure — with a minimum order quantity of 124 kg per variant. Every detail — colour, flavour indicator, pouch strength — hit spec.

CDC Printers’ real estate brochures for the Embassy Group had die-cuts, scratch-off ink, UV spot varnish, and a smart blend of digital offset and embellishment — proof that even corporate print could be fun again.

Even promo merchandise entered the game: from wine tags to loop-label samples to miniature book dummies. These were small-run, quick-turn, low-waste — but all high on creative value. The message was clear: you don’t need 10,000 sheets to make a point. You need 10 good ideas and one great execution.

Judging print in a shifting world
The jury's task wasn’t easy. Excellence came in all sizes — boutique short runs, high-volume academic presses, one-off marketing kits. What they looked for: clarity of purpose, fineness of finish, material intelligence and a hint of surprise. The winners weren’t just award entries. They were case studies — of risk-taking, process control, cross-team harmony and attention to the customer brief. They reflected an industry that is no longer defensive. It is daring.

The road to 2025
As the gates open for the 2025 edition of the PrintWeek Awards, one thing is certain. Indian print has earned the right to dream bigger. You don’t need a giant plant to enter. You don’t need a fleet of presses. You need that one piece of work where your team solved a challenge, met a brief, or created something that made your client pause. The PrintWeek Awards not only honour excellence but also serve as a platform to benchmark your work against the best in the industry. Whether you're a large-scale player or an emerging print business, this is your chance to gain national recognition, attract new clients, and boost team morale. Because in the end, that’s what the Awards are about. Pausing. Looking. Touching. Thinking. And saying: this is what print can do.

 

A new quality category for 2025
A new category has been added to the Quality Awards this year: Printer of the Year for Self-Promotional Merchandise. This award aims to celebrate the most creative and effective self-promotional printed merchandise designed by a print company to market its own capabilities. Entries may include products such as calendars, notebooks, tote bags, apparel, stationery sets, labels, or novelty items that reflect a company’s brand identity and production expertise. Judges will evaluate submissions based on print and finishing quality, originality, strategic thinking, and their ability to attract attention or generate business leads.

Winning entries should strike a balance between visual appeal and functionality while using print techniques in an inventive manner. Entrants should also highlight how the merchandise aligns with their branding, describe the production timeline, mention any special post-press processes used, and share one key insight into how the item contributed to promotional success. One unique sample of the self-promotional item must be submitted with each entry.  Only one sample per entry is required.

Registration and contact information
The Awards Night for the 15th edition of the PrintWeek Awards will be held on 13 October 2025 at The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake. To register for the awards, participants must visit the official website: printweekindiaawards.com. For any queries or assistance during the process, entrants can reach out via email at avinash.bhakre@haymarket.co.in or call +91 99303 51282.