The best of what tag and labelmakers have to offer was center stage during the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, Inc. (TLMI) Annual Meeting Oct. 19–22 at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas in Henderson, NV. During the TLMI Awards Dinner on Oct. 21, the hard work and creativity of converters were recognized with one Best of Show award, 52 first-place and 35 second-place awards, and 16 honorable mentions.

Out of the 273 entries, the judges agreed that the Victoria's Secret Love Spell Hairspray label (A) by Dow Industries (Wilmington, MA) deserved the Best of Show honor. The label features a large head of purple hydrangeas that draws the eye to the brushed gold aerosol container that the label decorates.

"The customer's objective for this label was that it should have good opacity and that they were able to achieve the highest quality graphics possible," Dow Industries says. "The amount of detail in the image needed to be exceptionally sharp and vibrant."

Dow met its client's demand through a special mixture of magenta and rhodamine, which enhanced the purple color in the flowers. It has two colors rotary screen-printed and four colors printed in HDUV-flexo at 150 fpm, with a 175-line screen.

Multi-Color Corp. (Watertown, WI) scooped up multiple awards, garnering the most of any company with eight first-place and five second-place awards, along with three honorable mentions. Among its first-place labels is the Brutal Fruit Sultry Strawberry (B) pressure-sensitive neck label that was UV-flexo printed using a 175-line screen on 2-mil polypropylene film with five colors and a varnish. To set off the bright white text and the hot red glow of the "flirtle" character, the company printed a solid black and a solid white, followed by a spot white and a spot red.

Another first-class work is the Palmolive Mountain Fresh Dishwasher Detergent (C) label—gravure-printed using eight colors and a varnish. Three shades of green and two blues were printed using a 200-line screen. Process color was used for the trademark hand holding a sparkling glass, and the mountain scene vignette was printed using a combination of process and spot colors.

Multi-Color's other first place labels are: Olay Total Effects wet cleansing cloths, Leinenkugel's Big Butt Doppelbock beer, Febreze Pet Odor Eliminator, Tide Clean Breeze High Efficiency detergent, Cocktails by Jenn and Labatt Bleu Cold One can sleeve label.