Judges tackle 300 entries in first PrintWeek India Awards

July 31 was judgement day for the inaugural PrintWeek India Awards. 23 judges met at the Four Seasons in Mumbai to consider the 300 entries submitted by 80 printers.

The judges had to choose winners in 17 quality categories encompassing the entire gamut of the print business.

“The quality of design and production was incredible. It was difficult eliminating some of the entries,” said awards judge Puja Marwaha, director of CRY, one of India’s best known non-government organisations.

The identity of all the entries were concealed to eliminate bias. “The evaluation process itself, involving multiple independent judges and comprehensive analysis of each entry nominated, sets high standards for rigour independence and professionalism,” said Chinmay Dandekar, manager for packaging development at Parle Agro.

Four additional performance-linked categories were judged by a professional auditor.

Jim James, PrintWeek India publisher and director of Haymarket Media India, said: “I can confidently say that we had a superb panel who took their jobs seriously.”

“An award isn’t for a single job, it’s for a body of work. That is why we insisted on four print samples. Once a company sends four entries they can also show their clients and future clients the quality of craftsmanship that their company is capable of,” he added.

Judge Amit Navarange, production manager at Condé Nast, said, “We are so busy with our own work that we’re unaware of recent trends in print. Some of the coating jobs and spot UV were excellent, as well as four colour jobs with extra colour gamut.”

The winners will be announced in the September 2009 issue of PrintWeek India. Winners will be honoured on October 25 at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.

The Awards, which are presented by Canon, were launched in February 2009.