Sappi Fine Paper North America Announces Gold Winners of the 14th North American Printers of the Year Competition

BOSTON, June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Sappi Fine Paper North America announced the 10 gold winners of its 14th North American Printers of the Year awards for 2010-2011. Culled from a field of approximately 2,100 entries, the 10 gold winners will now compete for the distinguished Sappi International Printers of the Year Award global competition.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110607/NE14561LOGO )

Each of the gold winning printers will receive $20,000 to support marketing and brand initiatives as well as entry into the competition for Sappi International Printers of the Year 2012 awards, the only global honor of its kind to recognize printing excellence. For more details, visit: www.sappi.com/na/poy.

"Sappi remains committed to promoting the vitality and relevance of the printed image in innovative ways, and this includes the long-standing Printers of the Year competition," said Jennifer Miller, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Sappi Fine Paper North America. "The craftsmanship and innovation demonstrated by our gold winners is an outstanding example of why print remains a vital communication medium."

Sappi's Printers of the Year awards recognize print excellence and innovation produced on Sappi papers in ten categories of work. A panel of highly regarded print professionals judged the entries on the overall impact of the piece, degree of difficulty in printing techniques, and technical excellence. The gold winners of Sappi's North American Printers of the Year are as follows:

To ensure the highest possible standards and integrity, Lauren Elliott, Principal of Wicked Good Print Production based in San Francisco; Bill Garno, Director of Rochester Institute of Technology's (RIT) Printing Applications Laboratory (PAL); Malcolm Keif, professor in the Graphic Communication Department at Cal Poly; and Ken Lantz, North American Managing Director of the Business Unit Hi Resolution for Kinetic in New York served as the panel of judges.

Gold winners of Sappi's North American Printers of the Year will compete later this year against the winners from Africa, Europe and the Sappi Trading Region (Asia, Australia, Central America and South America) for the Sappi International Printers of the Year awards, regarded as the world's most respected accolade in printed communications.

Sappi's North American Printers of the Year gold and silver winners will also receive their own marketing pages in Sappi's searchable online database, which provides information about the award winning printers and their capabilities, printing equipment and location. The database is available at: www.sappi.com/na/poy.

About Sappi Fine Paper North America

Sappi Fine Paper North America, known for innovation and quality, is a preeminent North American producer of coated fine and release papers headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.  Its coated fine papers, with highly recognized brand names such as McCoy, Opus, Somerset, and Flo, are used in premium magazines, catalogs, books, and high-end print advertising.  Its release papers and films, with the globally recognized Ultracast brand, are used by manufacturers to simulate leather and other textures for products such as luggage, shoes, and upholstery. Sappi's mills in North America are triple chain of custody certified to the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI), and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC). Over 80% of the energy used by Sappi's North American mills comes from renewable resources, resulting in one of the lowest carbon footprints of any major North American coated paper supplier. Sappi Fine Paper North America is a division of Sappi Limited (NYSE: SPP and JSE: SAP), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with manufacturing operations on four continents in 9 countries, sales offices in 35 countries, and customers in over 100 countries around the world. For more information about Sappi Fine Paper North America, visit: www.sappi.com/na

SOURCE Sappi Fine Paper North America