In North America, when a pro sports team wins a championship – the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, the NBA Finals – they get acknowledged as “World Champions.” But are they? Are they really champions of the world? No, they’re not, they are merely the champions of their respective leagues. The Los Angeles Dodgers, for example, came out on top in 2024 as baseball’s World Series champions, having bested the leagues other 30 teams. But they weren’t up against the best teams from Japan or Latin America, where baseball is wildly popular. We call it the World Series, but it’s really just Major League Baseball’s championship series. 

Let’s pivot to the label industry and its competitions. Throughout the global label industry there are several regional associations, and these associations host annual label awards competitions. Converters in North America are familiar with TLMI, while over in Europe, FINAT is the all-encompassing label association. While these two are perhaps the most well-known to L&NW readers, there are also label associations in Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, India, and elsewhere. 

Unlike the world of sports and unique to the label industry is the L9, an organization that brings together the world’s regional associations for a truly global competition. The L9 is an alliance of global associations, set up in 2010 to jointly formulate policies and to collect strategic information of global interest to the worldwide label industries, and it also holds the annual World Label Awards (WLA), showcasing the best quality labels submitted by the L9 associations. In other words, L9 pits against each other the award-winning labels from their respective associations to crown what can be called the “Best of the Best” in labels. 

Receiving a WLA Award is considered the peak of achievement in the international label industry. WLA winning converters are able to harness winning the award to boost their marketing campaigns, and the recognition of being presented with a WLA Award goes deeper than just the printer. A considerable amount of effort is expended by the prepress department, the design studio, and the brand owner, and it is only fair that they all share in the prestige of winning a WLA Award. The term “Technical Oscars of the Label Industry” has been used over the years to describe the WLA Awards competition, as entries are subject to intense scrutiny from a technical and aesthetic point of view by an international panel of expert judges.

Let’s look at some of 2024’s “world champion” labels in a few select categories, representing the participating L9 associations.

Flexo Line Category

Association – CPF (China); Converter: Suzhou Jiangtian Packing Technology Co., Entry: RIO Neon Cocktail Label

A bright and colorful label with a striking 3D effect that moves in relation to the viewing angle. The use of transparent colors printing over the holographic image gives this label a quite distinctive appearance. The fully servo-driven printing machine accurately prints various effects, and with the combination of reverse primer and top-coat, it achieves a bright and textured finish.

Flexo Line/Screen Category

Association – FPLMA (Australia); Converter: Fantastick Label Co.; Entry: Moro Ultra

Printed in four colors plus varnish on a clear PP substrate in four passes. A punchy label with lots of color and vignetted shading – and excellent coverage in the solid color areas.

Flexo Wines and Spirits Category

Association – JFLP (Japan); Converter: Takara Pac Ltd.; Entry: Japanese Sake Label 

Printed using flexography in the following sequence: print, diecut,  laminate, print, laminate, diecut, backside, diecut – all achieved in one pass. This is a two-layer label. When the outer label is peeled off, another label with liner is inside and can be removed. This could be a bonus or collectable label. The surface is protected so the inner label cannot be stolen in stores.

Combination Line Category

Association – FINAT; Converter: Gráficas Varias S.A.U. (Spain); Entry: El Hallazgo

Printed in one color using flexo and gravure with gold hot foil and embossing as additional processes. Two substrates were used, which were subsequently combined. A 3D effect was created by printing a gold lacquer and grey “detailing” on the top substrate, which was then embossed with hot foiling of the name on the lower substrate.

Combination Color Process Category

Association – TLMI; Converter: McDowell Label, a Resource Label Group Company; Entry: Isopept Vanilla Ice Cream

Printed using flexo on a silver foil substrate, with large, even coverage of a matte black background. The color process image of an ice cream cone was enhanced by a patterned lacquer and printed in sharp reverse-outs to give a gold effect. The white solids and very fine lettering are excellent. The label is also both domed and tactile varnished with accuracy.

Digital Wine & Spirits Category

Association – FPLMA (Australia); Converter: Ultra Labels
& Flexpack; Entry: Cotes de Hentley

A nice, clean looking label with clear and sharp type. The customer requested a premium looking label with a thick stock, so, with this in mind, a stock was constructed to push the capabilities of the machines. Printed using four colors, the real challenge began: Using a clear foil, the bottle numbers were highlighted to show the edition number of the vintage and batch. Finished off with a blind emboss and a matte varnish, the result was delivered to the
customer’s satisfaction.

Innovation Category

Association: SALMA (New Zealand); Converter: MCC Albany; Entry: Red Mill Rum

This label is printed digitally in four colors along with spot matte varnish, matte high build varnish, and the removal of internal die-cut waste. The difficulty was in removing 46 diecut areas on-press without compromising the integrity of the label and without requiring additional equipment. The difficulty in production using textured material was to balance printing large hot foil areas and fine reversed out type within the three passes required to produce the
final result.

Steve Katz is the former editor of Label & Narrow Web and is now a regular contributor. He is focused on helping companies in the label industry share their news and tell their stories. Follow him on Twitter @LabelSteve.