The L9 announce the 2018 World Label Awards Category and Honourable Mention Winners

The L9 group of international label associations is pleased to announce the results of the 2018 L9 World Label Awards (WLA) competition judged by an international panel of judges representing each of the participating associations. The judging took place in Chicago the day before Labelexpo Americas at the exhibition venue. The L9 is an alliance of global label associations formed to jointly formulate policies and to collect strategic information of global interest to the worldwide label industry.

The current class structure encompasses all the principal printing processes and market applications. The results are listed in category order with the Winners announced first followed by the Honourable Mention (HM) awards.

In order to ensure that the World Label Awards competition maintains a truly international flavour, all of the L9 label associations are invited to submit entries for the competition which has been running now for 17 years. This year we received entries from the following associations: FINAT (Europe), TLMI (USA), JFLP (Japan), FPLMA (Australia), SALMA (New Zealand) and PEIAC (China). Almost 70 entries were received in total which resulted in 21 Winners awards being given along with 12 HM awards (a table of awards by association can be found at the end of this release).

The basic ground rules have not changed for submitting entries in this prestigious label competition. The entries are selected by the respective L9 label association and must have won an award in their respective “local” competition. This is the only route to entry because direct entries from individual converters are not accepted. The associations are limited to entering one entry in each category. Winning an award in the WLA competition is highly respected throughout the worldwide label fraternity indicating that the label converter has achieved a high level of competence in label production. The awards not only reflect the achievements of the label printer but also the whole production process through from design to finishing. Many past winners have used their awards as a valuable marketing tool to promote their expertise. No wonder they are often referred to as the technical Oscars of the global label industry. The jury spends a considerable amount of time examining and debating the technical and aesthetic features of each entry including the converting and finishing techniques. “We examine each entry in great detail and make our decision based on our examination and the technical information provided. Although we expect a high standard of printing at this level and we also look for the quality of the design of the label and its final commercial application” comments Tony White, chairman of the judging panel. “Each year the quality level of the labels improves which makes selecting the winning labels all that more difficult” he continues.

The judges for the 2018 competition included Mike Buystedt (Vice Chair), Noel Mitchell (FNAT), Andrew Maxwell (FPLMA), Mr. Masaaki Yoshitake (JFLP), Ms. Jean Li (PEIAC) and Harveer Sahni visiting judge (LMAI).

The Results

Class 1: Flexo Line
Winner TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for “Braising Sauce”
HM FPLMA: Labelhouse Pty. Ltd. Australia for “Daylesford and Hepburn Mineral Springs Co. Sparkling Mineral Water 750ml”

Class 2: Flexo Line/Screen
Winner FINAT: Kimoha Entrepreneurs Ltd., United Arab Emirates for “Active CVT”
HM JFLP: Yukousha Co. Ltd. Japan for “Princess Veil Label”

Class 3: Flexo Colour Process
Winner TLMI: Labeltronix, USA for “California Love”

Class 4: Flexo Wine/Spirits
Winner TLMI: Multicolor Corporation North America Wine & Spirits, USA for “Freakshow Zinfandel”
HM FPLMA: Labelhouse Pty. Ltd. Australia for “Pietro Gallo Estate Grappa di Prosecco”

Class 7: Letterpress Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Hokkai Sealing Co. Ltd., Japan for “Hokkaido 150 Label”

Class 8: Wine/Spirits
Winner JFLP: Shimokuni Co. Ltd., Japan for “Kunimaro Sake”

Class 10: Offset Line/Screen
Joint Winner FINAT: Marzek Etiketten + Packaging, Austria for “Sir/Lady Burgenland”
Joint Winner FPLMA: Labelhouse Pty. Ltd., Australia for “Alpine Cider Pink Lady Dry 330ml”

Class 11: Offset Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Maruki Printing Co. Ltd., Japan for “Japanese Sweet Label”

Class 12: Offset Wine/Spirits
Winner FINAT: Multi-Color Corporation North America Wines & Spirits, USA for “Borne of Fire”
HM TLMI: Multi-Color Corporation North America Wines & Spirits, USA for “Sidewinder Spirits Co.”

Class 13: Combination Line
Winner PEIAC: Guangdong Kinde Technology Co. Ltd., China for “06 02 Year”
HM TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for “Wreckage”

Class 14: Combination Line/Screen
Joint Winner TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for “Burner”
Joint Winner FINAT: Germark S.A., Spain for “Mask Shikiso Color & Highlights Protection UV Rays”

Class 15: Combination Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Takara Pac Ltd., Japan for “Rose”
HM TLMI: Multi-Color Label Corporation, Mexico for “Caprice”

Class 16: Combination Wine/Spirits
Winner FINAT: Multi-Color Corporation North America Wine & Spirits, USA, for “The Countess Walewska Vodka”
HM JFLP: Kyoto Seal Label Corporation, Japan for “Edo Kauo Sake Label”

Class 17: Digital Printing
Winner FPLMA: Multi-Color, Australia for “1L Misto EV Olive Oil”
HM FINAT: Azimut NPC NT Ltd., Russia for “Spaquatoria Milk Dew”

Class 18: Digital Wine/Spirits
Winner TLMI: Syracuse Label & Surround Printing, USA for “Drawbridge Gin”
HM JFLP: Takara Pac Ltd., Japan for “Sakura Sake Label”

Class 19: Screen Printing
Winner TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for “Pure Brazilian”
HM JFLP: Sibel Industry Co. Ltd., Japan for “Sumo Label”

Class 20: Gravure
Winner SALMA: Gravure Packaging Ltd., New Zealand for “KiwiFarmNZ Green Kiwifruit Juice”

Class 21: Booklets
Winner TLMI: Yerecic Label, USA for “Campari Chef Inspired”

Class 22: Innovation
Winner FINAT: Schreiner Group GmbH & Co. KG., Germany for “Color Laser Film With a Fingerprint”
HM PEIAC: Tungkong Inc., China for “Xiao’er Fengreqing Mixture”

Overall ranking of winners by region

Association	Winners	Honourable Mention	Total
JFLP	4	4	8
FINAT	6	1	7
SALMA	1	-	1
TLMI	7	3	10
FPLMA	2	2	4
PEIAC	1	2	3
Total	21	12	33

Best of the Best

This is the sixth year that the L9 World label Awards Association has included 5 additional awards representing the “Best of the Best” entries from the principal printing processes which were selected during the judging process. The awards will be presented at the Tarsus Global Awards event which will be held during Labelexpo Europe in Brussels in September 2019. The winners were selected from the winning entries in the L9 World label Awards competition from the following classes: Flexography, Letterpress, Offset Litho, Combination Printing, Digital Printing. The plaques will be presented and the winners revealed at the awards ceremony and are perceived as the “Oscars of the Oscars” of the international label industry.