University Printing & Graphics is double winner in national contest
The 2011 football season ticket book and a poster printed for a musical presented by ECU’s School of Theatre and Dance netted national recognition for ECU’s University Printing & Graphics. UP&G also printed the books that were distributed to 2012 football season ticket holders. (Contributed photo)
University Printing and Graphics at East Carolina University has been named a double winner in the In–Print 2012 competition, a national contest that recognizes print quality.
UP&G received the silver award in the hybrid combined offset/non-offset category for the 2011 football season ticket book printed last fall for the ECU Department of Athletics.
“This is a very special award for us this year,” said Ann Weingartz, UP&G director. “Everyone in the department had a hand in the production of the book. From photography and design to collating and binding, everyone stepped up and made it happen.”
UP&G also brought home the bronze award in the flyers non-offset category for a poster printed for a musical presented by East Carolina’s School of Theatre and Dance, “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
The contest is sponsored by the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) and “In-Plant Graphics” magazine. It is the only competition strictly for in-plants, an in-house reproduction department operated within an organization, such as a company, government office or university.
The awards were presented in June at the IPMA conference in Kansas City, Mo. Seventy-eight printed pieces submitted by 37 organizations were selected as winners from the 452 entries submitted.
IPMA Awards Chairman Chris Anderson of Salt Lake City, who has served as a judge for the past five years, was impressed by this year’s entries. “Every year the competition gets tighter, especially in the digital category,” he said.
“The quality of equipment is making judging far more difficult,” he added. “In the past we could pretty easily identify the equipment by simply looking at the piece, but this year we frequently needed to refer back to the entry forms to clarify the machine used.”
The 2012 awards mark the 14th time ECU’s print shop has placed in the competition since 1996.
“We are extremely proud of the recognition our work has received over the years,” Weingartz said. “Meeting the needs of our customers is our first priority. Receiving awards and recognition is just icing on the cake.”
The ticket book utilized both offset and digital printing processes. It was printed on the Heidelberg Speedmaster and variable data was added to the piece utilizing the Xerox iGen4 Press. The poster was printed on the Xerox iGen4 Press.
In picking the winners, judges considered the degree of difficulty required to print a job and closely analyzed the entries for obvious flaws.
The most common reason pieces are eliminated is when both halves of the sheet fail to line up perfectly or are cracked along the folds because they were either folded against the grain or folded without first being scored.
The judges also look for color variation from page to page, particularly noticeable in company logos or headers that appear on consecutive pages, and spots and specks.
“A beautifully designed piece can be ruined if the colors aren’t right or the binding isn’t up to standard,” Weingartz said.
UP&G is located at 2612 East 10th Street in the Harris Building. Operated through the Business Services unit of East Carolina University’s division of Administration and Finance, UP&G is self-supporting and receives no state funding. It is the largest in-plant printing operation among the 16 constituent institutions of the UNC system and features printing capabilities ranging from simple forms to four-color process magazines.