Bruce Bell, founder and chairman of Belmark Inc, has won the Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Label Industry Global Awards. The meeeting took place prior to the FINAT European Label Forum in Amsterdam earlier this month, where the judging panel also revealed the short list of finalists for three other award categories.

The R. Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by Avery Dennison, is given annually as part of the Label Industry Global Awards. Bestowed in memory and recognition of Stan Avery’s pioneering spirit and values, the accolade celebrates the outstanding contribution an individual has made to the label printing industry over a minimum of 25 years. Bruce joins a prestigious roll of honor with previous recipients of the Lifetime Achievement title including FINAT’s Kurt Walker, Suzanne Zaccone of GSI Technologies, RotoMetric’s Steve Lee, Neil McDonough of FLEXcon and its first-ever winner, Mark Andy’s Dale Bunnell.

Bell has had a long and distinguished career since founding Belmark in 1977, which opened with just one five-color press and three employees. Today, the company is an industry leader in pressure sensitive labels, flexible film packaging and folded cartons with over 650 employees. Belmark has grown four times the industry average and maintains lead times that are half of the industry average. Outside of engineering Belmark’s own success story, Bell has been involved in nurturing individual talent and has long held the respect and admiration of his industry peers–being chosen as the 1999 TLMI Converter of the Year and a 10-time winner of the Eugene Singer Award for Management Excellence.

Bell has been involved with TLMI throughout his career. Joining in 1991, he was asked to serve on the Board in 1995. A year later, he assumed leadership of the scholarship committee. In five years as chairman, TLMI’s scholarship contribution tripled from $200,000 in 1995 to $600,000 in 2011. The fund, which stands at $1,000,000 for 2016, is used to award scholarships to students demonstrating an interest in the tag and label industry. The TLMI Board named one of the scholarships in Bell’s honor.

The finalists for this year’s three other categories have also been announced by the judging panel. The 2016 finalists are:

The Award for Innovation (for companies with over 300 employees), sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web (in alphabetical order):
* Jindal Films Americas
* LINTEC Corporation
* RAKO Etiketten GmbH & Co. KG

The Award for Innovation (for companies with less than 300 employees), sponsored by Flint Group Narrow Web (in alphabetical order):
* Alphasonics
* Eshuis BV
* Grafotronic AB
* OMET srl
* Unilux

The Award for Sustainability (in alphabetical order):
* Constantia Flexibles
* Dow Chemical Company
* Outlook Group Corporation

“It is with great honor that we announce this year’s finalists and Bruce Bell as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award,” says Mike Fairley, chair of the judges. “Bruce truly deserves this award as we celebrate his lifetime achievements and remarkable contribution to the label printing industry. Bruce has made an indelible mark on the label sector and is widely known and recognized for his integrity, honesty and respect in doing business. A true visionary throughout his career, he is a fantastic ambassador for our industry. I look forward to presenting Bruce and all of our other winners with their trophies in September.”

Chaired by Mike Fairley, judges presiding over this year’s awards included: Michael Ritter, vice chairman of the TLMI, Thomas Hagmaier, president of FINAT, Steve Katz, editor of Label & Narrow Web, Andy Thomas, group managing editor of Labels & Labeling, and Armin Karl Geiger, editor of NarrowWebTech.

The full list of winners will be revealed at 13th annual awards event, which takes place on September 13 as part of Labelexpo Americas 2016 at the Rosemont Theater in Rosemont, IL, USA, and Bell will formally receive his accolade. Limited tickets for the event are still available to buy at www.labelawards.com.