The L9 associations have announced the results of the 2012 World Label awards competition, which was judged by an international jury during Labelexpo in Chicago in September 2012. The L9 is the alliance of global label associations, formulating policies and strategic information in connection with global matters affecting the worldwide label industry.

The new class structure was introduced for this competition with 22 classes covering all the main printing processes and markets. The results are listed in class order with the winners announced first followed by the Honorable Mention (HM) awards.

“This year we saw the quality level rise once more with excellent technical achievement in many of the classes”, says Tony White, chairman of the judging panel. “The innovation class showed some new applications for the label process from several of the associations.” The associations taking part were: FINAT (Europe), JFLP (Japan), LATMA (Australia), PEIAC (China), SALMA (New Zealand), and TLMI (North America).

Class 1:  Flexo – Line
Winner FINAT: Schreiner Group GmbH & Co KG, Germany for CLF-Smart Cap

Class 2:  Flexo Line Screen/Tone
Winner TLMI: McDowell Label & Screen Printing, USA for Broad Spectrum SPF 50

Class 3:  Flexo Colour Process
Winner LATMA: Multi-Color (Qld) Pty. Ltd., Australia for Lite n’Easy Roast Chicken Linguine
HM FINAT: Skanem Skurup AB, Sweden for Giva Grass GTI

Class 4: Flexo Wine/Spirits
Winner TLMI: ASL Print FX, Canada for Rennie estate Winery, 2009 Gaia
HM SALMA: Admark Visual Imaging Ltd., New Zealand  for “Divinitive” 2011 Sauvignon Blanc

Class 5: Letterpress Line
Winner JFLP: Nakamura Kogyo Co., Ltd., Japan for Yokohama Port Cider

Class 6: Letterpress Line Screen/Tone
Winner JFLP: Chugoku Seal Printing Co., Ltd., Japan for Pates de Fruits
HM PEIAC: Wenzhou XinMei Co., Ltd., China for Hualan Human Albumin Label

Class 7: Letterpress Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Sato Printing Co., Ltd., Japan for Camellia Oil
HM FINAT: F S Etiketten GmbH., Germany for Perlmutt/Goldrausch

Class 8:  Letterpress Wine/Spirits
Winner JFLP: Shimokuni Co., Ltd., Japan for Premium Spirits

Class 11: Offset Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Yamada Fine Art Printing Co., Ltd., Japan for Diamond Wax
HM FINAT: Etimag Etiket, Turkey for Asma Bag Bade

Class 12: Offset Wine/Spirits
Joint Winner TLMI: TAPP Label Technologies Inc., Canada for Cloud Valley 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon
Joint Winner JFLP: Sato Printing Co., Ltd., Japan for Japanese Sake Moon-Ring

Class 13: Combination Line
Winner FINAT: Marzek Group Austria for Gmeiner – Patritus

Class 14: Combination Line & Screen/Tone
Winner JFLP: Kansai Takara Printing Co., Ltd., Japan for Floreregina Oliva Shampoo
HM TLMI: Smyth Companies – Dow Industries, USA for Dream Angels Glow

Class 15: Combination Colour Process
Winner JFLP: Shimokuni Co., Ltd., Japan for Seasoned Herring Roe
HM PEIAC: Shanghai Maxim Garment Accessories Co., Ltd., China for Luxuriant Natural Men’s Cloth Tag

Class 16: Combination Wine & Spirits
Winner SALMA: Rapid Labels, New Zealand for The Colour Pinot Noir 2009
Joint HM FINAT: Collotype Labels USA, USA for Le Pich 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon
Joint HM TLMI: Collotype Labels USA, USA for Le Pich 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon

Class 17: Digital Printing
Winner TLMI: Digital Label Solutions Inc., USA for Buy 3 Tires promo
HM PEIAC: Shanghai Komark Labels & Labelling Co., Ltd., China for Mighty 1 L Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Class 18: Digital Printing Wine & Spirits
Winner JFLP: Takayoshi Co., Ltd., Japan for Japanese Spirits Yamakoshi
HM LATMA: Ultra labels Pty. Ltd., Australia for Hidden Creek

Class 19: Screen Printing
Winner PEIAC: CymMetrik (Kunshan) Printing Co., Ltd., China for Logitech Fingerprint Flowers Mouse Label

Class 20: Rotogravure
Winner TLMI: Multi-Color Corporation, USA for Steel Reserve

Class 21: Booklets & Coupon Labels
Winner LATMA: Multi-Color Corporation for Win an Apple iPad

Class 22: Innovation
Joint Winner FINAT: Schreiner Group Gmbh. & Co. KG., Germany for Nameplate with Integrated Pressure Compensation Seal
Joint Winner TLMI: Whitlam Label Company, USA for Evidence Bag
Joint Winner PEIAC: CymMetrik (Chongqing) Precision Printing Co., Ltd., China for Acer PC Promotional Label

In addition to the awards mentioned above, five new L9 Global awards representing the “Best of the Best” will be presented during the Global awards ceremony on the first night of Labelexpo in Brussels in September. The winners are selected form the winners of the World label Awards competition within the following classes: flexo, letterpress, offset litho, combination and digital. The identities of the winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony in September and are deemed to be the “Oscars” of the label industry.

The judging for the 2013 WLA competition will take place before the start of the 2013 Labelexpo event in September in Brussels.