The 2019 FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards

Thirty judges, 11 committee members and a handful of FTA staff were present for the judging of the 2019 FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards. They saw hundreds of pieces of flexographically printed packaging: from labels to boxes; line, screen and process; the OK and the great, all kinds of substrate.

There is no “I” in “Excellence”: Thirty judges, 11 Excellence in Flexography Awards Committee members and a handful of FTA staff convened on the Hyatt Regency Long Island Ballroom from Jan. 26-28 to judge the 2019 FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards.

Judges were divided into two groups, each focused on a specific set of criteria when evaluating a print: degree of difficulty and level of execution:

First, the degree of difficulty group judges the overall complexity of each print, grading attributes on a scale from one to 10. Those attributes are substrate printability/ink compatibility, registration tolerances, plate-printing complexity/fineness of print, screen (lpi or stochastic spot size), tonal range (on screen and process jobs) and defect detectability.

Second, the level of execution group judges how well each print’s various elements were printed, also grading on a scale from one to 10. Those elements are image sharpness, ink coverage, registration, dot/screen/vignette (again, on screen and process jobs) and consistency.

After each print has been evaluated by the degree of difficulty judges and then the level of execution judges, the points are totaled and all the category’s entries are sorted from highest to lowest cumulative score. All the category judges then convene together to debate each print’s worthiness of a gold, silver or bronze award—if any. Finally, when the debate is over, the gold award winners are collected and, from them, a Best of Show is chosen.

The Excellence in Flexography Awards Committee. Top row, from left: Bill Rund, Mac Papers Envelope Converters Inc; Paul Teachout, Nilpeter; Mark Mazur, FTA Hall of Fame; Sean Teufler, Harper Corporation of America; Tim Reece, All Printing Resources Inc (APR); Caryn Kuehl, ProAmpac; Alix Guyot, tesa tape Inc; Geoff Roznak, Great Northern Corp. Bottom row, from left: Bob Loescher, Compass Color & Coatings; Paul Lancelle, Kodak; Tim Esselman, WestRock CP LLC

Overheard at the 2019 FTA Excellence in Flexography Awards Judging

What does judging the Excellence in Flexography Awards sound like? At times, you could mistake it for a library. When a group of degree of difficulty or level of execution judges is “in the zone,” their heads so close to a print they would smear ink on their noses if it hadn’t already dried or cured, the click of a camera shutter or snap of a soda can opening can be deafening.

At other times, it resembles a cantankerous courtroom or family dinner, where industry experts’ assert their opinions and then defend them with vigor. Debates over registration, impression, complexity, sharpness, ink coverage, consistency and other criteria arise and subside. Judges scrutinize every detail of every print, once when assigning it a score and again when deciding whether to give it an award, and they often do so audibly.

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#00ffff” class=”” size=””]”Extremely well executed on a large sheet. Nice tonal range from the highlights to the mid-tones. Great detail and register across the entire sheet.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ff00ff” class=”” size=””]”Great die cut! How did you do that?”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ffff00″ class=”” size=””]”Excellent, excellent use of high-definition highlight dot fade to zero. It’s incredible how well the detail is held in this wrapper.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]”There is so much to like about this entry: From the solid ink density, halo-free type that would make offset print jealous, to the sharp, precise dot structure building dimensionality and texture to the bottle surface, and finally, to the smooth, strong solids that are free of defect.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#00ffff” class=”” size=””]”Great consistency across the entire print with heavy coverage. This is a realistic design printed well as a 1-color image.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ff00ff” class=”” size=””]”The print exhibited a great deal of detail and saturation from highlight to shadow. The ink laydown is very smooth. Color match print to proof was well done.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ffff00″ class=”” size=””]”Amazing job on very, very unforgiving graphics. This piece rivals litho offset print quality. It’s out of this world!”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]”Gorgeous piece with extremely high defect detectability, especially in the dots on the face and back.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#00ffff” class=”” size=””]”Wonderful ink coverage. The tonal range on the product shot was superior and the registration on the product shot was exceptional—especially considering it was printed on a white background.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ff00ff” class=”” size=””]”Excellent registration, executed well for this substrate. Way to go holding the fine details!”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#ffff00″ class=”” size=””]”Smooth build solids, registration was all one-for-one and held tight. White laydown was executed really well. Text had nice, crisp, sharp edges. This also had the best highlights in its category, while also using the highest linescreen count.”[/perfectpullquote]

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]”This represents the future of flexo!”[/perfectpullquote]