Numbers-wise, everything is looking up for the Packaging & Label Gravure Assn. Global. The New Madison, OH-based trade group's ninth Operational Conference held in Miami last month drew 250 industry professionals—25 percent more attendees than in 2005. Total PLGA membership now tops 138—a 21 percent increase with 30 new members added in the past year. And its 2006 Print Quality Awards competition garnered 27 percent more entries, including 17 international submissions—103 in all.

Avery Dennison Security Printing Div. (Clinton, SC) was the top vote-getter winning Best of Show for Print Quality. The company produced a set of 20 US Postal Service stamps commemorating the 300th birthday of Benjamin Franklin. The stamps (above right) were gravure-printed in six colors on pressure-sensitive stock with a 50-lb. film release liner. The entry received a perfect 5.0 cumulative rating by the judges, who later commented, "each of the 20 stamps in the set is distinctive and reflects the care taken to reproduce the original art. The halftone images are fine, and the type is clean, crisp and truly outstanding. The front-to-back register and diecutting are reflective of the quality demanded by the US Postal Service."

All together, 40 entries won awards in various categories ranging from cartons and flexible packaging to sleeves/tubes and medical/pharmaceutical products. Specialty and innovation category awards were also given for technical achievement, specialty converting, process, materials and functionality to 13 entries. Two examples follow:

Winning the Flexible Packaging-Pouches category was Nordenia USA, Inc., (Jackson, MO) for its Fast Fixin' Sausage Biscuits with Gravy Mix standup pouch (above center). Re-verse-gravure-printed in six colors, the pouch is made from 48-gauge polyester laminated with solventless adhesive. Nordenia used a complex set of multiple-color, opposing vignette screens to create the background color of the package's design. "This was another example of a pouch with plenty of color and action," the judges said. "The opposing vignettes give a smooth transition from blue to yellow. All of the type is well produced and very clear."

Alcan Packaging (Atlanta) won both the Innovations-Process and the Specialty-Special Effects/Novelty categories for its Wrigley's Midnight Cool sugarless gum carton (above left). Made with 12-pt coated-one-side paperboard, the package is gravure-printed in six to seven colors, using the white of the board for the color white and making the silver into a vignette. "The solids are strong and even, the vignettes good," the judges said.

Ten entries also won honorable-mention awards this year. Complete details and photographs of all the winners are available at www.plga.com