2009 proved to be an award-winning year for Spear, a label converter based in Mason, OH, USA. “We are proud to announce that our quality and printing expertise have won the organization, and our customers, multiple awards all over the world,” says Dan Muenzer, vice president of marketing.

At the FINAT annual label awards in Europe, Spear was awarded Best in Show, Best Printing Process (Group Winner) and Best Combination Printing for the Crabbie’s Green Ginger Wine label. Desperados Red was also awarded first place in the Screen Printing category.

In North America, at the TLMI Annual Meeting, Spear received first prize in the Gravure Line and Screen/Tone for a Bud Light label. “In addition, we were especially proud to also have won the TLMI Environmental Leadership Award for ‘consistently demonstrating a commitment to progressive environmental practices across a range of areas including solid waste reduction, recycling, waste and energy recovery, clean process technology and the implementation of an education program’,” Muenzer says.

“In Europe, we were also commended for Amstel Light in the European Gravure Association awards, and at the PrintWeek Label Printer of the Year awards in the UK. Labels supplied to the jury included Innis & Gunn Highland Cask (flexo printed), Cruzcampo Gran Reserva (combination print) and Crabbie’s Green Ginger Wine (combination print).”