Winner: Buxton Press

Buxton Press is back with a ROAR! The High Peak magazine and commercial printing business reevaluated and reinvested in its offering amid “unprecedented challenges” in the aftermath of the pandemic, as well as an ultra-competitive market. A major investment in press and post-press systems has improved efficiencies still further at the multi-Printweek Award winner. Sales are up and nearing the £20m mark, and operational improvements have boosted profits too. Customers are glowing in their feedback about Buxton’s expert and supportive team, and the quality of products delivered. CEO Kirk Galloway is rightly proud of the firm’s achievements and is optimistic about the exciting opportunities that lie ahead, putting people-centred values at its core. Judges were suitably impressed in this incredibly tight-fought category, with one saying: “If was going to buy shares in a company, I would buy Buxton!”

Highly Commended:
Bakers
Curtis Packaging

Finalists:
Certus Card Group
Webmart

Presented by Printweek

Winner: Resource

To say that this year’s stellar selection of SME finalists impressed the judges is an understatement – so for Resource to triumph in this category for the third year running is testament to the success of the Leeds firm’s business model and the strength of its proposition. Resource’s “single source” integrated communications agency offering reduces complexity for clients, boosts speed to market, and contributes to its enviable customer retention statistics. The firm has also won new business from a raft of blue-chip clients. Substantial investments in people and new talent included leadership programmes, succession mapping and career development opportunities. Growth in sales and profits reflected the success of the company’s strategy, while a slick rebrand built upon three decades of heritage. Judges said: “A worthy winner, and all the more impressive because they were preparing for an MBO during the period.”

Highly Commended:
A4Labels.com
Dominion

Finalists:
AB Print Group
Flexpress
Northend

Sponsored by Compass Business Finance

Winner: Sadiki Ryan, Augustus Martin

If wanting to bottle the spirit needed to succeed in the world of print, then look no further than that possessed by Augustus Martin trainee Sadiki Ryan. His managers couldn’t enthuse more about Ryan if they tried. “Capable”, “dependable” and “exceptional” are adjectives used to describe him, especially as he operates 11 different presses “confidently and consistently”. He’s determined, is known as a troubleshooter, and has a reach that goes well beyond the production floor given that he has successfully networked throughout the business. A “can-do and will-do” attitude sees Ryan willingly step in to help another if needs be. Ryan sees the bigger picture and where he wants to be; print is his chosen field, and he is focused on building a long-term career in it.

Highly Commended:
Lizzie Beattie-Smith, Propack Direct Mail
Skye Smedley, Lotus Labels

Sponsored by Heidelberg

Winner: FaberExposize UK

Donald Peterson, a former CEO of Ford, once said, “if we are not customer-driven, our cars won’t be either.” And it’s this guiding principle which underpins why FaberExposize won this category. “Going above and beyond” – a comment from one customer - typifies how the company operates. Rush jobs that are hand delivered, often overnight, by staff - including the managing director who chauffeured a colleague to an urgent install on the continent – are all part of the corporate norm. A £300,000 investment in a system that gives staff and customers visibility of workflow reenforces this philosophy. As the judges detailed - “what an entry, every member of the team, from top to bottom, wants to go the extra mile – what more could a customer ask?”

Highly Commended:
Go Inspire Group

Finalists:
Paragon
Tradeprint
Webmart

Presented by Printweek Jobs

Winner: Impress SimplyPrint

Small firms, with fewer resources, have to work harder than corporates to rise above the competition. This is what SimplyPrint did – and does – not because it had to but because it wanted to. Working 24/7 to meet deadlines that others cannot is the norm, as is the manual checking of every file to capture potential snags early on. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding and SimplyPrint has either been nominated for, or won, numerous local and national awards. It’s all about understanding customer needs, training staff to know exactly how the firm and its equipment works, and maintaining a solid commitment to customer service. The judges weren’t wrong when they said that “the phrase above and beyond was designed for these guys… and usually in high-pressure situations too”.

Highly Commended:
Eight Group
Impress Print Services

Finalists:
Harkwell
PIN Communications
Resource

Sponsored by Close Brothers Asset Finance

Winner: Bluetree Group

Google The Pale Blue Dot; it’s why companies like Bluetree Group are desperately trying to do their bit for the only place that we can call ‘home’. Bluetree has taken huge steps to cut its direct emissions (down nearly 50%), lowered its imported electricity by 74%, recycled over 92% of waste and turned the balance into energy, and added close on 1,800 solar panels to its existing 646-panel system. The last remaining natural gas consumer – its dryers – are not long for this world either. Even better, Bluetree is doing its damnedest to encourage local firms onto the same path through roundtables and webinars. It’s easy to see why the judges were blown away - “impressive improvements everywhere, strong reductions in every measure, not to mention zero waste to landfill”.

Highly Commended:
Webmart

Finalists:
Cubiquity
Tradeprint
UK Greetings

Sponsored by Premier

Winner: A4Labels.com

It’s easy to think that a label printer in a competitive market would be more interested in business than environmental concerns. However, sustainability is very much at the core of everything that A4Labels does and it says something when it donates 1% of sales to ocean plastic removal. Likewise, the company sponsors a cricket club where 20 runs equates to more monies donated to ocean plastic removal and staff are involved with a bee preservation charity and tree planting programmes. The philosophy is to do right by the environment but without greenwashing; environmental responsibility “is not a bolt-on initiative or marketing exercise”. Indeed, the judges could not have been more effusive when they said “the innovative initiatives were well beyond what we’d expect any print business to do”.

Highly Commended:
Eight Group

Finalists:
Imageco
Impress Print Services
Reelvision Print

Sponsored by ECO3

Winner: Resource

Build a better marketing campaign and the world will beat a path to your door. That’s what Resource’s commsHero did during 2024-2025 over the 10th and 11th anniversaries of the first iteration of a campaign that sought to “build a genuine, inclusive community” among its customers and prospects. Distinct from campaigns run by others, commsHero is a year-round multi-channel affair that involved an in-person event, personalised print and fulfilment, podcasts (that were downloaded more than 16,000 times), daily social media postings and exhibition promotions. Large-format graphics were re-used and printing was on materials that were FSC and Carbon Balanced World Land Trust certified. Resource’s efforts paid off, not just by winning here, but with, as the judges noted, “340 new leads and an ROI of 9,000%”.

Highly Commended:
Northend

Finalists:
Printed.com

Innovation of the Year - Applications: Packaging

Winner: Certus Card Group

Anything of value will always attract the ne’er-do-wells in society who, rather than earn, prefer to steal. This, given the value stored in gift cards and similar, gives retailers a real headache – how to generate another income stream without risking further growth in already high levels of fraud. So, thinking about the problem, Certus Card Group came up with a winner of a solution – the PaperBurstTech tamper-evidence package which makes any interference very obvious. Put simply, precisely applied adhesives bond over time and when opened, cause paper fibres to break in an unrepairable manner. Not even MI6 could bypass the security of this packaging. No wonder the judges commented that Certus “identified a problem and solved it. Sounds simple – but the best ideas usually are”.

Innovation of the Year - Applications: Post-press

Winner: Empress

Not so much tall, dark and handsome, but rather, flat, black and hexagonal, this origami invitation card from Aston Martin F1 can only be described as something likely to be found in the V&A or in a catalogue at Sotheby’s. A precisely engineered folding structure, Lord knows how it was conceived and made. The recipients of this invitation – ‘just’ for a dinner to celebrate local culture and tradition at the Japanese Suzuka Grand Prix - would surely be loath to open it. Surely? It’s a piece of art in its own right. Clearly, CAD was involved in the design, but who cares? It’s a work of genius. The judges understandably recognised that Empress Litho had considered the audience and location when they rightly said it “epitomised innovation – it was just fantastic.”

Innovation of the Year - Applications: Influencer Packaging

Winner: Showcase Creative

The whole point of using influencers is to – literally – influence; so, everything about a product’s packaging must score a home run on first batting. And with the complex influencer boxes commissioned by Monkey’s Cousin for a key product launch, Showcase Creative scored that home run given the sheer excitement of those lucky to receive it. Only 80 boxes were made, but the attention to detail – a mysterious outer, an ethereal inner cover, a combination locked compartment, the perfect use of colour and internal product arrangement – was second to none. It’s a product that had such love poured into it that, really, thousands should have been made. The judges weren’t wrong when they said: “Brilliant project, brilliant innovation, brilliant execution. What more can we say?”

Finalists:
Bookvault
Impress Print Services
Kalamazoo Direct
LDN Graphics
Print & Display

Sponsored by HP

Innovation of the Year – Business Strategy: Upscaling

Winner: Bakers

Spotting an opportunity is one thing, seizing it is another – but doing both and then backing yourself to slash turnarounds and simultaneously ramp up capacity is whole other ball game. But this is exactly what Bakers did with its BakPac flexible packaging division. In the 12 months under review, weekly output grew by almost 600%, topping out at more than 1m pouches a week. In that same period, headcount almost doubled to 30 and the division went from generating just over 20% of Bakers’ revenue to an impressive 36%. As one judge noted: “They spotted an opportunity, they ran with it and then they strapped a jetpack on it!”

Innovation of the Year – Business Strategy: Investment

Winner: Fast Printed Packaging
In a world that values flexibility, speed of service and innovation, what better than for a firm – Fast Printed Packaging – to re-engineer its custom printed tamper-evident tape so that it is not just water activated and unique, but also is available on a fast turnaround and in low minimum order quantities. Thinking outside of the box and having the nous to invest in a belief is why the judges said, emphatically: “Love it - a UK first that identified and filled a huge gap in the market – a great idea executed brilliantly.” Even better – it “breathed new life” into the firm’s product mix.

Innovation of the Year – Business Strategy: People

Winner: Reelvision Print
Reelvision recognised that success required investing in a strategy to manage its talent and upskill its leaders. While some associate ‘apprenticeships’ with the young, as Reelvision found it’s just as relevant to the management team and especially its sales director, Suzanne Baldwin. The goal was to give Baldwin tools to become far more strategic in her outlook so that she understood, for example, more about strategy and financial management, digitalisation, and leading global teams. The judges said that while “succession planning is essential in any firm, investing in and reskilling senior staff is important too.”

Innovation of the Year – Business Strategy: Sustainability

Winner: Tradeprint
Companies rarely turn on a sixpence, but in seeking to be more sustainable Tradeprint began a programme in March 2025 to remove all PVC from its products. One element of the initiative sought to specifically dial out PVC in banners. But given the nature of the product and the job it had to do, this was easier said than done. The solution involved identifying and testing a certified, recyclable, weather-resistant material that actually outperformed PVC. Even better, it was introduced without a cost premium. Consequently, the judges were impressed with “a great sustainability initiative”.

Finalists:
Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Duncan Print Group
Folio Print & Packaging Solutions
Mail Solutions UK
Printed.com

Sponsored by Ricoh

Winner: Northside Graphics

Oh, how the world has changed – all because of a little thing called ‘digital’ that makes the previously impossible possible. Northside Graphics won because it used unleashed the process’s potential to produce a bespoke digital swatch book with flexibility, precision and short-run adaptability. Digital was also deployed to give the Clandeboye Hotel a luxuriant brochure that could be updated almost on the fly to reflect current pricing and demand to avoid wasted print and cost. All in all, the judges felt that Northside offered “an impressive range of submissions that showed the breadth of their inhouse capabilities”. And in an age of digital where competition is tough, that’s saying something.

Highly commended:
Bookvault
Showcase Creative

Finalists:
Full Spectrum Print Media
IV Creative
Propack Direct Mail
Whittington Moor Printing Works

Sponsored by Fujifilm

Winner: Empress

While we’re told you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, that’s not always necessarily true. Especially when it comes to Empress’ entries, which illustrate that it’s not what is done but how it’s done that makes a winner. A book it produced for Penhaligons, a British fragrance brand, highlights that a stunning black and white image with embossed print on the right stock can draw the eye just as much as, if not more than, colour. Empress spends time on finding the right materials. Want a contemporary book on 70’s photographic fiction? Just ask Empress to research how to make kitch look modern. Books are a tough category to master precisely because there is so much competition for attention. As the judges noted, “the image reproduction and material choices made this the standout entry”.

Highly commended:
Gomer Press

Finalists:
Bookvault
Paragon
Print4UK

Sponsored by Canon

Winner: Empress

If you’re going to produce a publication you’ll want it read, especially so if you’re a client wanting something very bespoke. Here Empress excelled. A book on the work of JMW Turner for an exhibition demanded the right paper for the right look and feel and, importantly, the right colour reproduction. Not easy. Similarly demanding were two guides for a high-end residential development that needed to ooze luxury and both co-ordinate and match. For that Empress chose a combination of foil detailing, reverse but complementary colourways and to top it all off, gold Singer-sewing thread. If that doesn’t give off a whiff of desire then nothing will. These two products – and others - were why the judges said that Empress offered “beautiful work across a broad range of products. First class”.

Highly commended:

W&G Baird

Finalists:
Full Spectrum Print Media
Impress Print Services
Northend

Sponsored by Denmaur

Winner: Eight Group

Eight Group’s ability to drive complex direct-mail programmes, from data gathering to print and fulfilment, saw it triumph in this hotly contested category. In an attention-poor society, being able to deliver quickly, accurately and economically can make or break a campaign. To rise to the top Eight Group worked to understand consumer behaviours – abandoned online baskets for example – and automatically matched their data to personalised print to entice them back. Its campaigns respond so quickly that it should not come as a surprise that the judges lauded Eight Group’s “impressive data-driven direct mail where speed to market, responses and ROI were top notch”. An abandoned basket programme it ran “delivered an outstanding 200% ROI – an incredible £3 earned for every £1 spent”. Who can argue with a return like that?

Highly Commended:
Precision Proco

Finalists:
IV Creative
Propack Direct Mail

Sponsored by Bowe Systec

Winner: Harkwell

Art is everywhere. For some it’s in a gallery, but for others – ahem – it’s behind a bar or on an off-licence shelf. Sure, the flavour’s got to hit the mark, but so has the label that makes us want to grab it in the first place. Consider the label produced for Chew Valley’s Apple & Blackberry gin. Harkwell didn’t just print, they considered the minutiae – it’s why there’s a reverse-printed character on the back of the label. It’s no wonder that the judges said: “Chew Valley was the standout label: innovative and great execution.” But look too at the label for Bristol Honey Rum; it grabs the drinker by the scruff of the neck and says, ‘pick me, I’m premium’. Check the detail and you’ll discover the Bristol skyline. Outstanding.

Highly Commended:
Lotus Labels

Finalists:
A4Labels.com

Sponsored by Konica Minolta

Winner: Windles Group

Presentation is everything and if job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well. So, if you’re going to put ‘the world’s finest perfume’ into a box you want Windles on the case. Just look at the packaging. The removal of laminated board while not losing the premium feel isn’t simple – especially when the client is very demanding and the product is high end. Choosing the right combination of inks, varnish and cold foil embellishment takes time too. But that’s what the company did and it set their work apart. As the judges, noted, it’s “charming work, lovely production. I wanted to take this home”.

Highly Commended:
Showcase Creative

Finalists:
Beamglow
Curtis Packaging
Duncan Print Group

Sponsored by Keypoint Intelligence

Winner: Duncan Print Group

Duncan Print Group has been awarded Post-press Company of the Year for its innovative and complex products which the company made and printed with an eye on the end user experience. Extensive consultation with clients led to eye-catching products with artwork that really stood out. For the Jolt Bolt pop-up for comedian Russell Kane, a former awards host, Duncan developed the structural concept from scratch. After extensive prototyping of various risqué body parts and swapping out non-recyclable components, the final product had the competition licked. Attention to detail was found to very much be part of the company’s mantra, something that the judges noted when praising products “that came alive” through complex constructions and precision finishing. It’s never easy to create solutions that contain often heavy and fragile products while being visually appealing, but Duncan Print Group can clearly do this - time after time.

Highly Commended:
 Empress

Finalists:
Curtis Packaging
Showcase Creative
Windles Group

Sponsored by Intelligent Finishing Systems

Winner: Imageco

Imageco’s submissions didn’t just use print technology, but rather squeezed the pips out of it. From an oversized 3.5 metre high animatronic robot – made from a sustainable substrate – to show just what could be done when great design and materials gives life to an inanimate object; to a 300sqm printed Major League Baseball pitch for Trafalgar Square – that had to be both visually captivating and able to withstand serious footfall – Imageco smashed the ball out of the park. The judges were sufficiently blown away with the firm’s work, especially the robot’s engineering, to recognise the abilities of Imageco and its “impressive direct to substrate work… and high-quality installation and innovative effects”. Imageco’s only constraint is its imagination.

Highly Commended:
Augustus Martin

Finalists:
Aura Brand Solutions
Impress Print Services

Sponsored by Premier