Calling for entries and qualified judges for The GAPP Awards 2018. Now is the time to stand out from the crowd and to Celebrate the Pinnacle of Excellence.

The time is fast-approaching for The GAPP Awards 2018 – the largest and most comprehensive printing competition in the world. What does this mean to you as a printer, supplier, packaging converter or signage manufacturer? It means that you have a way of not only participating in the competition but of being one of the Champions of Print.

As stated on numerous occasions in the past, print is used as an all-encompassing term for the placement of an image onto a substrate. This means that whether you are printing – on a commercial basis – on a large-format digital device, a litho press, a gravure press, a flexo press or digital device, or whether you are a supplier of one of the numerous technologies used to create printed images, you can be involved in The GAPP Awards. The inaugural GAPP Awards was held in October 2016 at Monte Casino and proved to be a spectacular event – one of the only industry events to gather together players from all
sectors of the printing, packaging and signage industry. The competition attracted almost 350 entries from 67 companies in all sectors of the industry. The event itself was attended by more than 380 guests (the capacity of the venue) and saw more than 90 trophies presented on the evening. All of this came from just 34 categories of print.

A full post-event analysis brought to light a number of items that needed to be considered. Firstly, this is a competition which the industry is not only in favour of but, which it actually wants and needs – seeing it as a unifying factor. Secondly, the desire from the industry to move the event to a Friday night which will allow the celebrations to go on a lot longer without impinging on work. Thirdly, the number of categories – in certain sectors – did not do justice to the types of entry out there. Fourthly, a more specialist panel of judges is required to evaluate the entries. Fifthly and finally, a bigger venue will be needed to host the gala dinner.

Such was the response from the first event that it soon became apparent that the 2018 competition will be a lot bigger. This was partly due to the comments from companies that had entered and those that had sponsored, but also from the evidence that pointed to the need to expand the number of categories. So much for the initial detractors who said that 20 was too many categories!

Following discussions with leading players in each of the sectors, and after extensive investigation of the shortfalls of the competition, an additional 20 categories of print were added to make the competition as representative as possible. Sectors of print which were expanded included packaging, large-format printing and the specialist sectors, which includes everything from silk-screening to 3D Printing, among others.

As a result of this expansion and, due to the amount of time required to judge the entries for the first competition, it became obvious that a bigger panel of judges, as well as more time, will be required to handle the judging process for the 2018 Awards. The judging for the 2016 event took the panel of nine judges, divided into teams of between three and five an entire day of 10 and a half hours, to get through all the entries. With as many as 700 entries expected for the 2018 competition, it is believed that it will take as many as 30 judges two full days to get through all the entries.

So, what does all of this mean? Well, the first thing is that entries are open. We have completely revamped The GAPP Awards website to make the entry process easier and simpler. You are invited to visit The GAPP Awards website, create an account, purchase your credits and start submitting your entries. A step-by-step process is laid out for you to make it quick and simple to submit your entries. The website also provides a full and comprehensive list of categories and the requirements for each category. The good news is that companies submitting multiple entries can purchase multiple-entry credit coupons at a volume discount. Another benefit is that the cost of a single entry remains unchanged from the 2016 price.

For companies in the supply sector there is still the ability to participate in the competition through sponsorships and attendance at the gala event, which will be held on Friday, 12 October 2018 at the Centre Court at Emperor’s Palace. The opportunity to book seats or tables at the event will be announced closer to the time.

For individuals, there is also the ability to participate by putting your unique expertise and knowledge to good use. You can volunteer to be a judge for The GAPP Awards. This entails contacting us with a brief CV (one paragraph) listing your skills and expertise, and what you would be able to bring to the table as a judge. Judges will be required to have production-environment expertise. Judges will also be required to sign an agreement stipulating that they will recuse themselves from judging a specific category if they have any knowledge of the production of a specific entry in that category or if they work for a company which has submitted an entry into a category which they are due to judge. As a judge you can help to drive the quality standards ever higher and help to re-assert print’s contribution to the overall communications and marketing mix.

This is just one of the procedures put in place to ensure judging that is as fair and impartial as possible. Another process starts as early as the submission of entries. As each entrant submits their entries, the website system generates a unique number for each entry. The first two digits are the category number. The subsequent three numbers are the unique identifier by which the entry will be known. It is also this number that will be used for the judging process. All other forms of identification, including printer’s imprint, will be blanked out to ensure that entries remain – as far as humanly possible – completely anonymous.
Judges will score each entry in a category according to the criteria for that category.

While judges will be able to deliberate the merits of entries, scores will be awarded individually and each judge will be required to sign the judging sheet. Scores will be entered into a spreadsheet that tallies the scores and generates an average according to the number of judges participating in that category. Should any score vary by more than a few percentage points from the overall average, it will be flagged and may be disqualified in order to ensure complete impartiality and fairness. Only entries that score higher than 80 per cent will be eligible to win a gold award. That said, scoring 80 per cent does not guarantee a gold. If no entry achieves 80 per cent or more then no gold award will be presented.

In short, this competition has been designed to find the very best printed entries in South and Southern Africa produced from the end of August 2016 until the closing date for entries on 20 June 2018. We encourage printers in all sectors to start compiling and submitting their entries. You can only walk away with a trophy if you submit your very best work. Don’t miss the opportunity and realise too late that you had an award-worthy job sitting in your plant but you did not enter.

Make your mark and ascend to the heights by participating in The GAPP Awards – The Printing, Packaging and Signage Competition for the Industry and from the Industry. It’s yours – make it your own.

You can find out more information on our website at www.thegappawards.co.za.
Address: Sentient House, 761 Tortoise Street, Weltevreden Park, Johannesburg, 1709
Telephone: 011 475 5095 / 0861 111 978
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