The 2006 Label Industry Global Award winners were honored Sept. 11 during a special banquet attended by about 500 industry professionals at Labelexpo Americas. The biennial trade show, which drew more than 13,000 visitors, ran through Sept. 14 at the Stephens Convention Ctr. in Rosemont, IL.

Converter Graphic Solutions Intl., Inc. (Burr Ridge, IL), was named the 2006 RFID Smart Label Manufacturer. GSI has printed antennae for RFID labels, and in addition to conductive printing, the company has a continuous web-assembly system to produce inlays that offer numerous performance improvements over conventional printed circuit boards. The line also reliably mounts chips at high speeds on paper, PET or other flexible substrates.

DuPont (Wilmington, DE) was chosen the 2006 Continuous Innovation Award winner. DuPont's solutions for the printing, packaging and label industries include Cyrel® plates, sleeves and digital imagers; Microflex® mounting systems, Melinex® PET and Tyvek® spunbonded polyolefin substrates; and Cromalin® proofing.

Esko (Vandalia, OH) was honored as the 2006 New Innovation Award winner. Although relatively new to the label industry, Esko has been innovating products for the digital label prepress field since the early 1980s, making a major contribution to the way labels are now designed and imaged.

In addition, Calvin Frost, chief executive officer of Channeled Resources Group (Chicago), was recognized as the 2006 R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award winner. Frost has long been a promoter of environmental causes and particularly the recycling of pressure-sensitive label waste and release liners.