Once again a Girl & Dragon wine label has won Best of Show at the TLMI Label Awards. This year, taking the top honor is Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits for its Girl & Dragon Malbec entry. In 2014, Collotype Labels USA Inc. earned the prestigious honor for its Girl & Dragon 2013 Malbec Argentina wine label, which won the top prize in the Flexography & Letterpress – Wine & Spirits – Line & Screen/Tone–Prime category. The 2016 winner from Multi-Color, which has a similar look to 2014’s Best of Show, is the Flexo Wine & Spirits’ Best of Class winner as well as the North American First Place winner in the category Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime. As for the wine itself, Girl & Dragon Malbec is described as a fierce red wine with bright berry flavors and a soft lush, texture, and Multi-Color did an exceptional job in bringing this description to life with a label that doubles as a stunning work of art.

In addition to the 2016 Best of Show, Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits won Best of Class in the Offset Wine & Spirits category. Four other entries earned Best of Class honors,
including those from Multi-Color Corporation, Sonoma Division in Digital; Inovar Packaging in the “Other” category; Yerecic Label in Flexo & Letterpress; and McDowell Label & Screen Printing in the Multi-Process category.

The 2016 label competition received a total of 230 entries, 16 of which were international, with some coming from as far away as Australia. TLMI awarded a combined 68 First and Second place honors for the North American and International divisions.

The judging committee, chaired by Paul Teachout of Nilpeter USA, included Mike Buystedt, Flint Group Narrow Web; Charles Tonkin, Clemson University; Robert Wray, Nilpeter USA; Steve Schulte, Mark Andy; Jim Harris, Actega WIT; Ray Mackura, Avery Dennison Fasson Roll North America; Michael Rivera, K Laser Technology; Kent Wolford, Domino; Richard Black, All Printing Resources; Andre Blais, Gallus; and Robert King, Harper Corporation of America.

Best of Show
Best of Class – Flexography Wine & Spirits
Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Girl & Dragon Malbec
Category: Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Wine Label
Challenges/Processes: The label was printed HD Flexo, CMYK + spot colors with hot foil, sculpted rotary embossing and critical registration.
Key Suppliers: Gallus, DuPont, RotoMetrics, Fasson, Ikela, Harper and Siegwerk

Best of Class – Digital
First Place, North American
Multi-Color Corporation, Sonoma Division
Entry: Precision
Category: Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Wine label
Challenges/Processes: For this brand new label and label design, particular challenges included applying everything to a 70# felt paper, as the texture can impact printing, foiling and spot varnishing. To get the desired embossed look, a carefully embossed brass die was used. It resulted in a great interplay with the copper foil stamping. The spot gloss varnish over the word “Precision” and over selective gray circle areas also added a special touch. The two-piece diecut angle made things more challenging. Lastly, the registration between all elements was critical and a lot to monitor. The end result was a novel design that hit the “precision” target the winery and designer hoped for.
Key Suppliers: HP Indigo, Metal Magic, Harper, Kocher+ Beck, Wausau Coated

Best of Class – Other
First Place, North American
Inovar Packaging Group
Entry: Aloe H20
Category: Roll-to-Roll, Color Process – Prime
End Use: Organic beverage
Challenges/Processes: Client was using clear shrink, and the shape of the bottle was trapping air bubbles, ultimately detracting from the product image. By switching them to white shrink it fixed those problems by hiding the air, thus making the brand image more desirable on the shelf.
Key Suppliers: Nilpeter, RotoMetrics, Harper, Bonset, Actega

Best of Class – Offset Wine & Spirits
First Place, North American
Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Entry: Hertelendy
Category: Wine & Spirits, Offset, Color Process – Prime
End Use: Wine label
Challenges/Processes: Semi-rotary offset, hot foil stamping, sculpted flat embossing.
Key Suppliers: Gallus, Agfa, Universal Engraving, Siegwerk

Best of Class – Flexo & Letterpress
First Place, North American
Yerecic Label
Entry: Pub Style Burgers
Category: Flexography, Color Process – Prime
End Use: Food packaging
Challenges/Processes: It was a challenge to achieve the customer’s desired craft look in the text area while maintaining an eye-catching image in the burger. And the desired diecut that was requested – having the burger come out of the label – gave the press operator a lot of areas to keep an eye on.
Key Suppliers: Mark Andy, DuPont, RotoMetrics, Harper, UPM Raflatac, Flint Group

Best of Class – Multi-Process
First Place, North American
McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Entry: Get Real
Category: Roll-to-Roll, Multi-Process, Line & Screen/Tone – Prime
End Use: Health & Beauty label
Key Suppliers: Gallus, DuPont, RotoMetrics, Harper, Klockner Pentaplast, Actega WIT

First Place, North American
Creative Labels of Vermont
Entry: J.K. Adams Martini Art
Category: Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Label applied to a wood lazy susan tray
Challenges/Processes: Challenges included having the wood grain match the product that the label was going on and also finding the right substrate so the label would be able to be pulled off the wood board after the customer got the product, but strong enough so the label stayed on the product during the packaging process.
Key Suppliers: HP Indigo, Wausau Coated, acpo

First Place, North American
Turner Labels
Entry: Alltech Peach Ale
Category: Non-PS, All Processes/Cut & Stack, Color Process – Prime
End Use: Craft beer label
Challenges/Processes: The process of adding colors makes this label difficult. It is flood-coated white, then four-color process, then a spot green is added last. The application of the white allows for the combination of metallic and opaque colors on the label.
Key Suppliers: Mark Andy, DuPont, RotoMetrics, CTS, Camelot Paper, Flint Group

First Place, North American
Digital Label Solutions
Entry: Tell us about your Kia
Category: Digital Printing/Inkjet – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Advertising
Challenges/Processes: Printing reverse in any situation is suspenseful in the sense that you cannot really see what will be the final outcome until you laminate the back of the piece and peel up from the liner. With a customer who holds a high standard for color and quality, it was nerve-racking to print reverse only to wait for the outcome after finishing.
Key Suppliers: HP, Advanced Roller, Kocher+Beck, Wausau Coated, QSPAC

2nd Place, North American
ASL Print FX
Entry: Tragically Hip Fully Completed
Category: Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Wine label
Challenges/Processes: The challenge was in matching the label to a CD cover.
Key Suppliers: Gallus, Kodak, Kocher+Beck, Harper, Avery Dennison, Sun Chemical

1st Place, North American
Labelprint America
Entry: Concord Foods, Lemon Juice Hang Tag
Category: Tags – Merchandising
End Use: Grocery store hang tag
Key Suppliers: Webtron, Kodak, RotoMetrics, Fasson, American Water Graphics, Achem

2nd Place, North American
Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Entry: Premium Orange Juice
Category: Flexography – Line/Prime
End Use: Food & Beverage, 16 oz plastic cup, lid label
Challenges/Processes: The customer required a label that could easily be pulled off in the store and would also have to stay on the cup. The lid is used as a seal while inside an open ice cooler. We had to deaden the adhesive enough to meet these requirements, but also make sure there was enough adhesive left so that label would stay on the roll as the waste peeled back on press.
Key Suppliers: Nilpeter, Fasson, Actega

1st Place, North American
WS Packaging Group
Entry: Bikinis N Martinis
Category: Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process – Non-Prime
End Use: Glass bottle label
Challenges/Processes: This was a multi-pass project with re-insertion on the digital press. There were five passes in total, so registration was critical. 1st pass: digital printed dark red under the foil; 2nd pass: hot stamp red foil plus gloss UV varnish; 3rd pass: digital print white plus 4-color process printed over foil; 4th pass: print metallic 877 silver flexo UV ink over foil; 5th pass: overlaminate and diecut. Sealed foil with gloss UV varnish allowed digital primer to stick to foil.
Key Suppliers: HP, Kodak, RotoMetrics, Harper, UEI, Flint Group, Kurz

1st Place, North American
Luminer Converting Group
Entry: Sampler Strip
Category: Paperboard/Rigid Packaging
End Use: In-vitro diagnostic test slide with sampler strip
Challenges/Processes: There was a challenge to prevent cracking in the fold during the 180-degree folding and gluing process. We used a specialized score to eliminate the cracking. We also needed to maintain perfect registration between multiple cutting tools. The acceptable customer failure rate is two cards per one million finished products.
Key Suppliers: Aquaflex, Tyobo, RotoMetrics, Harper, Avery Dennison, Actega

1st Place, International
Multi-Color Corporation Australia
Entry: Food Truck Wines
Category: Wine & Spirits – Offset – Color Process – Prime
End Use: Wine label, front
Key Suppliers: Nilpeter, Kodak, SPGPrints, UEI, Avery Dennison

1st Place, North American
Label Impressions
Entry: GT’s Synergy Black Chia
Category: Flexography – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime
End Use: Food & Beverage, kombucha bottle, wrap label
Key Suppliers: Nilpeter, Asahi, RotoMetrics, Harper, Avery Dennison, Environmental Inks

1st Place, North American
Columbine Label
Entry: Katari Geran Mediterranean Hydrating Mist
Category: Multi-Process – Line/Prime
End Use: Health & Beauty prime label
Challenges/Processes: Customer brought a circular cardboard container that was all black except a colored top. We were able to produce a label that not only blended with the black of the container but also exactly matched the color. In order to match the rich black of the container, we digitally produced a label with three different screen angles of black while maintaining a delta E of less than 1 on the color for the top. In addition, the customer wanted a contrasting gloss black pattern on the label, which we ultimately did with hot-stamp foil.
Key Suppliers: HP, UEI, Kocher+Beck, Avery Dennison, Environmental Inks, Infinity Foils

1st Place, North American
Constantia Flexibles – Labels Division
Entry: Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Category: Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line/Non-Prime
End Use: Limited edition beer label
Challenges/Processes: Goose Island challenged Constantia Flexibles to execute on an idea to add a flag to the neck label, drawing consumer attention at the shelf and highlighting Goose Island’s legacy as the originators of bourbon barrel aging. The neck label is a full wrap with a 5/8” tab that pops out from the bottle. Special treatment was applied to the neck label to allow for two-sided printing of the flag component and to ensure it maintained its perpendicular shape once applied.
Key Suppliers: Avery Dennison, Flint Group, Sun Chemical


TLMI 2016 Award Winners

1st  Place Winners, North America
Multi-Color Labels, Sonoma
Precision, Best of Class – Digital
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Prime

Labelprint America
Victoria Gourmet, Sesame Teriyaki
Roll To Roll – Multi-Process – Color Process – Prime

Labelprint America
Concord Foods, Lemon Juice Hang Tag
Tags – Merchandising

Luminer Converting Group
Sampler Strip
Paperboard/Rigid Packaging

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Hardscrabble Cider
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Ink Jet – Color Process Prime

Inovar Packaging
Aloe H20 Best of Class – Other
Roll To Roll – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation
Downy Infusions Botanical Mist
Roll To Roll – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

WS Packaging Group
Bikinis N Martinis
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Non-Prime

WS Packaging Group
Matusalem
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

ASL Print FX
Andrew Peller Signature Series
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line/Prime

Creative Labels of Vermont
J.K. Adams Martini Art
Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Prime

Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Hertelendy Best of Class – Offset Wine
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corp. North American Wine & Spirits
Girl & Dragon Malbec Best of Show – Best of Class – Flexo Wine; Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Maddalena
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

Digital Label Solutions
Tell us about your Kia
Digital Printing/Ink Jet – Color Process Prime

Digital Label Solutions
Flexible Packaging
Promotional

Ennis Tag and Label
Hazard Paddle Mixer
Tags – Industrial and/or systems

Label Impressions
GT’s Synergy Black Chia
Flexography- Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

Columbine Label Company
Katari Geran Mediterranean Hydrating Mist
Multi-Process – Line/Prime

Constantia Flexibles – Labels Division
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line/Non-Prime

Yerecic Label
Movember Tomato Promotion
Coupons & Expanded Information Labels

Yerecic Label
Pub Style Burgers Best of Class – Flexo/Letterpress
Flexography – Color Process – Prime

Turner Labels
Alltech Peach Ale
Non-Pressure Sensitive – All Process/Cut & Stack – Color Process – Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Thirsty Curls
Flexography – Line/Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Larder
Flexography – Line/Non-Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Iridium
Flexography – Color Process – Non-Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Beauty Secrets
Multi-Process – Line/Non-Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Test XT
Multi-Process – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Iso Pro
Multi-Process – Color Process – Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Reposado
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line & Screen/Tone – Non-Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Black Rum
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Non-Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Surface
Roll To Roll – Multi-Process – Line/Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Tekton
Roll To Roll – Line/Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Get Real Best of Class – Multi-Process
Roll To Roll –Multi-Process – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

Multi-Color Labels, Sonoma
Tequila Don Julio Blanco
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line/Prime

2nd Place, North America
Multi-Color Labels, Sonoma
Bodega
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Prime

Labelprint America
New American Foods, CVS Gold Emblem
Multi-Process – Line/Prime

Labelprint America
Hans Kissle, Black Bear Cole Slaw
Flexography – Color Process – Prime

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Braeval Bourbon
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Non-Prime

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Chuck’s Collectibles
Tags- Merchandising

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Haymakers
Promotional

Syracuse Label & Surround Printing
Premium Orange Juice
Flexography – Line/Prime

Inovar Packaging
Typhon
Multi-Process – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation
Juicy Georgia Peach
Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Prime

Multi-Color Corporation
PACT Fruit Infusions
Roll To Roll – Color Process – Prime

WS Packaging Group
Young Living
Flexography – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

ASL Print FX
Andrew Peller Raven
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

ASL Print FX
Tragically Hip Fully Completely
Wine & Spirits – Flexo/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime

ASL Print FX
Lakeview Cellars
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line/Prime

Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Ava Grace
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line/Prime

Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Chandelier
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation North American Wine and Spirits
Malene
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

Digital Label Solutions
Kates Studio French Rose Hand Soap
Digital Printing/Ink Jet – Color Process Prime

Digital Label Solutions
Divino Tinto 2010
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Ink Jet – Color Process Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Abs of Steel
Multi-Process – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Salt Lick Cellars
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line/Prime

McDowell Label & Screen Printing
Clyde Mays 750ml
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Line & Screen/Tone – Non-Prime

1st Place, International
Multi-Color Corporation Australia
Hanwood Estate
Wine & Spirits – Flexography/Letterpress – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation Australia
Food Truck Wines
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Color Process – Prime

Multi-Color Corporation Australia
Dappled – Chardonnay
Wine & Spirits – Digital Printing/Toner – Color Process Prime

Multi-Color Corporation Australia
Plantagenet
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line/Prime

Multi-Color Corporation Australia
The Coincidence
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime

Multi-Color SpA
Amaro 33
Rotary Screen Printing – Line/Prime

2nd Place, International
Multi-Color Corporation Australia
The Courtesan
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line/Prime

Multi-Color SpA
Bankes London Dry Gin
Wine & Spirits – Offset – Line & Screen/Tone – Prime