Winner: Solopress

The Southend-on-Sea-based business said “running a successful business is a lot like conducting an orchestra. You need all parts of the orchestra working together in harmony and when that’s successful you get music”. Solopress has been creating some sweet sounds of late judging by its recent financial performance. Since 2021, the company has significantly grown sales and profits, and last year it acquired more than 55,000 new customers. “Achieving results like this in such a competitive sector, you can’t help but be impressed. This is one seriously well-run ship,” said a judge.

Highly commended:

Eight Days a Week Print Solutions

Finalists:

Adare SEC

Solopress

Winner: Resource 

Like many businesses, Resource has seen its operating costs soar. However, it has been able to deliver sales growth, invest in new plant, reward its people and maintain healthy margins and strengthen its balance sheet position by taking what it describes as a “brave approach”. As one of our judges said: “SMEs have the benefit of smaller scale to be agile, creative and responsive, and the numbers tell the story that Resource has used every one of its advantages to maximum effect.”

Highly commended:

Duncan Print Group

Precision Card Services 

Winner: Eight Days A Week Print Solutions 

The company says world class customer service is the “rule rather than the exception” at the business. Its customers clearly agree. It boasts a very healthy 4.8 out of 5 rating on Google and Trustpilot’s review platforms. Eight Days a Week strives to go above and beyond the expectations of its customers and its retention rate of 95% confirms it regularly achieves this aim. The judges said: “Results speak for themselves and their approach to adding value is really impressive.”

Highly commended: 

Route 1 - Bluetree Group

Finalist:

SMP Group

Winner: Impress Print Services 

Impress says it exceeds customer expectations and empowers its inhouse experts to address challenging situations proactively and quickly. But don’t just take the company’s word for it, in a recent client survey 98% of respondents rated Impress as good or excellent for the overall service the firm offers customers. Which is why Impress regularly wins new business through recommendations from its existing customers.

Finalist:

UK Engage

Winner: Kolorcraft 

Kolorcraft has a host of different environmental accreditations and works hard to minimise its impact on the environment by making sustainability the overriding priority in its business strategy. On top of a raft of sustainability initiatives the company reduced its energy consumption by 31% by installing motion-activated LED lighting, replacing its fleet with electric and hybrid vehicles and investing in new, more energy-efficient machinery.

Highly commended:

Eight Days A Week Print Solutions

Tradeprint

Finalists:

 Heritage Envelopes 

Park Communications

Winner: KCS Tradeprint

In August last year, label and forms specialist KCS became a B Corp-certified company, which was a major milestone not just for the business but the wider industry. It has made major inroads in terms of reducing its environmental impact over the past few years, reducing its total energy usage by more than 30% in a year. It also reduced its carbon emissions by 25.8% cut water usage by 34% by moving to a ‘waterless’ platemaking system.

Highly commended: 

Resource

Finalists:

 Impress Print Services 

Midland Regional Printers 

Winner: Geneve Gurr, MacroArt, A Moss Global Company

Geneve Gurr has bundles of creativity and juggles her role at MarcoArt with her part-time job as a commissioned painter. During her two-year Level 3 Print Technician apprenticeship she had to overcome a number of challenges, but every time an obstacle was put in her path she surmounted it. She has achieved distinctions across the board and is now able to work across multiple departments within the business. Gurr is also forming part of the company’s new mentor and apprenticeship workshop team to assist existing and future apprentices on their journey.

Highly commended:

Ollie Cooper, Gemini Print

Gabby Solarek, Eight Days a Week Print Solutions

Winner: ImageCo

While setting up an exhibition stand for a client at a large trade show last year, the Image-co team couldn’t help but notice the amount of waste that was generated and discarded. Having researched the subject, the company discovered trade shows generate around 600,000 tonnes of waste annually. So Image-co decided to do something about it and came up with the concept of a collapsible, 100% recyclable exhibition stand that fits in a medium-sized van and can be set up by one person.

Winner: Mercian Labels 

In 2016, Mercian Labels set out to develop a workflow automation system to slash changeover times, minimise waste and free up the valuable time of its operators. After six years of research, development and testing with its partners, when the new technology went live it enabled Mercian to achieve a staggering 74% reduction in the time it took to produce 117,600 labels. “This intensive project delivered on its objectives, improving productivity, efficiency and quality control, not to mention the bottom line,” remarked one judge.

Winner: Offset Print & Packaging

Millions of people play video games every day, but for players with physical disabilities there are a number of barriers. So Sony, owner of the PlayStation brand, came up with the customisable Access controller, and set Offset Print & Packaging the challenge of creating a slipcase for the controller that could be effectively retailed and was also easy for users to take the product out of the box using one hand.

Winner: Qualvis Print & Packaging 

Qualvis’s developed carbon-neutral cartons for Whitaker chocolates by moving the packaging from being hand packed to machine packed by developing a new Concora tear-top carton that improved the openability of the pack. Qualvis worked closely with Sun Chemical to ensure the direct food contact inks and coating met rigorous food safety standards. The company used a low-migration vegetable oil-based ink and a unique process black utilising a pigment derived from a non-fossil fuel source.

Winner: Statex

Statex was tasked with colour matching paint samples for International Paint’s (IP) yachting boat painting guides using the lithographic printing process. The main aim of the project was to reduce the high costs associated with ink deposition that IP used on its existing colour cards. Through running numerous R&D tests in areas such as pre-press, print and finishing, the company was able to accurately match the paint swatches from both a colour and finish perspective.

Winner: Rapidity 

This London-based business submitted an impressive array of entries showcasing its skills: from a presentation box for skincare brand Aveeno that was sent to social media influencers, to stunning limited-edition mailer boxes for Glenglassaugh Whisky. But what really wowed the judges was a staff book produced for furniture brand DFS that one judge described as a “wonderfully bright and tactile item, simply gorgeous”.

Highly commended: 

Showcase Creative

Finalists:

Dayfold 

Kingsbury Press – Bluetree Group

Northside Graphics 

Winner: Kingsbury Press - Bluetree Group

Kingsbury Press works with some of the world’s most exclusive brands and it comes as no surprise that it triumphed in this category for the second year running. The submission that clinched it for Kingsbury was (literally) out of this world. A limited edition version of the iconic novel The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, produced for the Folio Society, which featured a wide-range of embellishments causing one judge to remark “I’m not sure I’ve seen so many finishes on one book”.

Highly commended:

Generation Press

Finalists:

Empress

Gomer Press

Hampton

Winner: Hampton

This Bristol-based litho and digital printing business’s entry that particularly caught the attention of the judges was The Road Rat, described as the “world’s most exquisite automative magazine”. For the submission, Hampton produced a special 6 page cover of the 240-page magazine to celebrate the iconic Ferrari F40 sports car. As one judge gushed “like the cars featured the quality of the image reproduction and print was breathtaking”.

Highly commended:

Empress

Kingsbury Press - Bluetree Group

Finalists:

Hampton

Park Communications

Statex 

W&G Baird

Winner: Propack Direct Mail

The Huddersfield-based print and direct mail company’s impressive submission stood out thanks to the “seriously clever use of data and print technology” on projects like the Go Outdoors weekly mailing submission. The judges were also blown away by the 60,000 mail packs Propack produced for the Greenhouse People’s January sale promotion, which contained personalised maps and variable discounts for customers.

Finalist:

Precision Card Services 

Winner: The Label Makers

The Label Makers submission featured a dazzling array of work for drinks brands, such as the stunning label the company produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Trooper, an award-winning beer produced by Stockport-based Robinsons Brewery in collaboration with rock band Iron Maiden. The judges were blown away by the sheer quality and variety of embellishments the company produced. “Great production with a fun range of techniques. Hats off!” said one judge.

Finalists:

Amberley Labels

Limpet Labels UK

Winner: Duncan Print Group

Since this venerable company was founded in 1889, it has established a reputation for producing innovative, high-quality packaging. The pack that really caught the eye of the judges this year was a hand assembled custom book style presentation box for a professional cooking appliances brand. It featured pop-up characters across separate layers and each of the different layers contained a spoon - a concept that one judge described as “delightfully surprising”.

Highly commended: 

Showcase Creative

Finalists:

Kingsbury Press – Bluetree Group

Midland Regional Printers

Winner: Kingsbury Press - Bluetree Group

Judges said Kingsbury “really stood out in a strong field with four seriously stunning products”. On was the book produced to promote Four Seasons’ Private Residences in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The challenge was delivering the client’s vision of a monochromatic gold cover, with a sloped debossing and intricate debossed letters and a gilt edge. Did Kingsbury deliver? Of course it did, and then some.

Highly commended:

Showcase Creative

Finalists:

ACA Scotland

Empress

Winner: SMP Group

SMP Group has been providing point-of-sale and out-of-home products for more than 90 years, so the high calibre of its entry didn’t come as a surprise to anyone. But what did surprise the judges was the spectacular lenticular hoarding it created for a construction site in London. The company applied fake foliage, windows and front doors – complete with door bells – and 3D structures to the ‘lenticular’ panelling creating what one judge described as simply ‘perfection”.

Finalists:

Image-co

Impress Print Services