Digital Print Awards: Celebrate the unsung print superstars — The Noel D'Cunha Sunday Column

In a print shop tucked away in Mhapan (in picturesque Konkan), a four-page photobook is produced overnight for a local wedding. The job is short-run, highly personalised and delivered within hours. There is no surrounding noise, no industry recognition, and no case-study written about it. Yet, this is the kind of work that is redefining print in India, quite quietly.

Across the country, thousands of such jobs are executed every day on compact digital presses. These are not large-format installations or high-volume offset lines. They are nimble, responsive setups handling urgent, customised work for local businesses, schools, publishers and entrepreneurs. According to industry estimates, roughly 2,700 such machines operate in this segment, most outside metro markets.

What binds these businesses is not their size, but their ability to respond. A school needs certificates for 325 students. A local brand wants a short run of personalised labels. A publisher requires 50 copies of a title for a book launch. These are no longer exceptions. They are becoming the norm.

And yet, they remain largely invisible.

During a curtain-raiser for the Digital Print Awards held on 20 March 2026, top digital print equipment suppliers gathered to discuss how they could support a new industry initiative and encourage participation from their customer base. Ajay Aggarwal of Insight Communication, Ajay Raorane of Domino India, Akshay Kaushal of Provin Technos, Gurjeet Dhingra of Canon India, Manish Gupta of Konica Minolta, Puneet Chadha of Redington India, Rishabh Kohli of TPH, Rohan Kulkarni of Kodak India, Shamim Alam of HP Indigo, TP Jain of Monotech, Umesh Kagade of HP Indigo, and Vimal Parmar, a digital print specialist, attended the meeting. Koji Miyao of Ricoh and Priyatosh Kumar of Fujifilm sought leave of absence. The conversation alluded to a telescopic lens. The next phase of growth in digital print will not be led by metros alone, but print hubs and entrepreneurial print businesses across Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns and ziilas and talukas.

“The industry has traditionally celebrated scale and volume,” says Ramu Ramanathan, editor of PrintWeek and WhatPackaging?. “But there is a significant segment of digital print firms who are doing smart, efficient, and innovative work without ever being recognised.” He adds, “Think of cricket. If the PrintWeek Awards are the World Cup for cricket, the digital print firms are like the IPL. Lots of new superstars, lots of unsung print stars. Lots of new talent, lots of new work. That is what we want to recognise here.”

The skewed view is not just about Awards. It is about perception. Larger companies are often assumed to be more reliable and resilient. Boutique digital firms, especially in Tier-2 and Tier-3 towns, are rarely seen as leaders, even when their work suggests otherwise.

A market shifting beneath the surface

This disconnect comes at a time when digital printing is no longer a niche capability. It is increasingly central to how print businesses grow and differentiate.

The Indian digital print market is estimated at over USD 1.4-billion and is projected to expand significantly in the coming years, driven by shorter runs, faster turnaround expectations and the rise of personalisation and print-on-demand models. These are structural shifts reshaping how print is produced and consumed.

In many ways, the firms which are nimble and entrepreneurial are closest to these changes. They operate in environments where flexibility is essential, and customer expectations are always ASAP. Even a few minutes' delay can mean losing a job. A misprint can mean a roast on Insta or Facebook. This proximity has forced these businesses to become super-efficient. Files are pre-flighted quickly. Jobs are queued intelligently. Substrate and finishing choices are made with both speed and Blinkit's level turnaround times.

Ramanathan notes that this is where the industry needs to recalibrate and rethink. “These are companies that have altered the business model. Their organisational structure is different. There is much to learn from them." He added, "We need to democratise print knowledge. We need to deploy the Digital Print Awards and unleash print intelligence and flatten the industry organisation by breaking down silos."

There is also a shift in the nature of customers. Regional brands and local entrepreneurs increasingly rely on digital print for speed and customisation. This creates a cycle of continuous experimentation and improvement.

Ramanathan said, We need to understand that the industry is K-shaped, with the traditional business shrinking while the digital print sector grows rapidly.

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If you are proud of a digital print job that required thought, precision and problem-solving, it deserves to be seen. The Digital Print Awards provide that stage.

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Democratise print, reward execution

The Digital Print Awards have been conceived as a response to this gap. The idea is simple. Create a nationwide platform where work is judged not by company size, but by how intelligently the job has been produced.

“The aim is to democratise print,” says Ramanathan. “We are looking at digital print as a change driver. We want to recognise digital print as the most likely champion for driving print adoption and transformation through efficiency and innovation.”

The Awards span categories such as photobooks, labels, personalisation, print-on-demand books, marketing collateral and finishing. Each is rooted in real-world, real-time applications rather than 20th-century legacy benchmarks.

What sets this initiative apart is the depth of evaluation. The jury will not only assess the printed output but also the process behind it. How the job was prepared. What challenges were addressed? How workflow decisions influenced the outcome.

The point is, we want to validate every print sample. The Awards' core function is to be the independent validator and arbitrator for digital print, and create a tech-book that documents the work.

This reflects a core reality of digital print. The final output is only one part of the story. The real value lies in how efficiently the job was executed.

A short-run label job completed under pressure may involve multiple variables, from colour consistency to substrate compatibility. A photobook produced on demand may require careful file handling and sequencing. These are the details that define quality but often go unnoticed.

By bringing these elements into focus, the awards aim to highlight a different kind of excellence. One rooted in problem-solving and technical understanding.

There is also a commercial dimension. Recognition at a national level can help reposition these businesses in the eyes of their customers, supporting better pricing conversations and long-term growth.

Ramanathan said, "We hope to achieve all this through the spirit of cooperation. The most significant industry challenge has been the inability of people to work together. We hope to break down these barriers because this is essential for matrix success.

Built for you, not built to intimidate

For many niche print businesses, the biggest barrier to entering awards is complexity. Lengthy, cumbersome forms, multiple samples and detailed documentation can feel daunting and intimidating. The newly designed Digital Print Awards addresses this.

“The idea was to remove fear,” says Rohit Nair, national head of marketing at PrintWeek and WhatPackaging?. “We know most digital print promoters are the heads of busy operations. So, the entry process has been kept as simple as possible.”

Participants need to submit a single physical sample along with a 300 to 500-word note explaining the workflow and business impact. The emphasis is on clarity, not jargon.

A submission portal simplifies the process, allowing users to upload and track entries easily. The goal is to make participation as straightforward as completing a job.

To ensure fairness, all entries will be anonymised before judging. This removes any potential bias and keeps the focus on technical merit and execution. The categories are aligned with the kind of work these businesses already produce. In many cases, the best entry will be a recent job that delivered value to a customer.

Nair adds that outreach is being tailored for accessibility. “We are developing toolkits with WhatsApp-friendly assets and multilingual content so that printers across regions can participate without difficulty.” The intent is to remove both practical and linguistic barriers.

From one entry to national recognition

The structure of the Awards is designed to ensure both reach and relevance. There are 12 categories, with winners selected across four zones to ensure national representation. Entries opened on 20 March, with submissions closing on 25 April. Jury sessions will take place in early May, followed by the Awards presentation in mid-June.

Beyond the Awards, the initiative extends into a year-round engagement platform. Webinars, category-led discussions and editorial coverage will continue to spotlight winners and shortlisted firms. Selected entries will be developed into case studies, extending their reach to brands and industry stakeholders.

“This is not just about one event,” says Nair. “It is about creating sustained visibility for digital print businesses and building a community around shared learning.”

Nair signs off, "The main goal is to celebrate great work and establish SOPs for the Indian digital print fraternity." 

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If you are proud of a digital print job that required thought, precision and problem-solving, it deserves to be seen. The Digital Print Awards provide that stage.