The Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) is accepting entries for its annual Product of the Year competition through August 2. Exclusive to PRINTING United exhibitors, and judged by a panel of industry experts, the competition awards the leading products in the market across 87 printing categories.
“The Product of the Year competition represents the best of the best among a wide range of categories in commercial hardware, software, consumables, and industrial and screen equipment,” said Ray Weiss, Director of Digital Print Programs, SGIA. “Any exhibitor’s product that is, or will be, available on the market in 2019 is eligible for entry.”
To best reflect the current array of solutions for the printing industry, Weiss also noted all the competition’s categories are re-evaluated and refined each year based on previous entrants’ feedback.
Entries are judged at SGIA’s headquarters by a panel of volunteer industry experts in an open scoring system, factoring in criteria such as date of manufacture and “wow” factor, as well as objective print quality data.
The results will be announced in advance of PRINTING United — SGIA and NAPCO Media’s latest iteration of the SGIA Expo coming to Dallas October 23 - 25 — allowing exhibitors to promote their winning products prior to the expo. Additionally, winners will receive a Product of the Year award jewel and have their entry displayed in PRINTING United's Golden Image/Product of the Year Gallery.
“The Product of the Year awards gave us the opportunity to coincide a product launch with a product win,” said Yoann Giorsetti, Managing Director, Siser North America, which won the Media — Heat Transfer Material, Cuttable category in 2018. “We knew introducing Siser BlackBoard heat transfer vinyl at the SGIA Expo was going to cause a buzz, but the extra publicity from the win skyrocketed our booth attendance. We were out of sample tote bags by the end of day two!”
Weiss hopes this year’s entries will top 2018’s record-breaking 255. “With each year, it gets more exciting to see the game-changing entries,” he said. “Product of the Year allows participants and winners to bring their solutions to the forefront for prospective customers.”
Giorsetti echoed these sentiments. “In addition to the extra attention, the Product of the Year awards supported and confirmed the quality of the product to our customers,” he said. “Although we already believed in BlackBoard, we were honored to receive SGIA’s stamp of approval and are grateful for the benefits that followed to help make this one of our best product launches.”
Product of the Year participants must submit entries ($85 each) online and send in required materials before August 2.
