Sappi Fine Paper North America Opens 2014 Ideas that Matter Call for Entries

BOSTON, May 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Sappi Fine Paper North America today officially announced its call for 2014 Ideas that Matter grant proposals, inviting designers to showcase their skills as a powerful force for social good. Sappi established the Ideas that Matter grant program 15 years ago to create an innovative platform to fund designers who apply their creative talents to ideas that address significant issues facing our society. Over the past decade and a half, Sappi has witnessed world-changing work firsthand as a part of the program and is committed to the belief that good ideas inspire people to take action, great ideas change the world.

"Sappi understands that design solves problems. Ideas that Matter is a call to action for designers, agencies and students who want to do more than just deliver good design. They want to make things happen," said Jennifer Miller, Executive Vice President, Coated Business, and Chief Sustainability Officer, Sappi Fine Paper North America. "Sappi is extremely proud of the success stories that result from this program and the continued impact, even long after grants are awarded. We are honored to support the work of these designers and nonprofits and know that the Ideas that Matter legacy lives on in the community and the grants that benefited them."

Selection Criteria
Ideas that Matter proposals are evaluated on creativity, potential effectiveness and practicality by an annually selected, independent panel of judges who are influential in the design industry: Cheryl Heller, Partner at CommonWise and Chair, MFA Design for Social Innovation at SVA in New York; Mark Randall, Principal & Creative Director at Worldstudio in New York; Lana Rigsby, President & Creative Director at Rigsby Hull in Houston; Chris Rubino, Art Director & Designer at Chris Rubino Studio in New York; Christine Gaspar, Executive Director at Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) in Brooklyn.

Ideas that Matter Come to Life
Ideas that Matter is the only grant program of its kind in the paper industry that funds projects addressing a variety of social issues – from diversity and human rights campaigns to health and youth development. Since 1999, Sappi has funded more than 500 programs for a total of more than $12 million worldwide in support of causes that change our lives, our communities, and ultimately, our planet.

Each year, grant recipients use design thinking and their creative skills to develop printed communications materials that help change lives. These inspiring stories include Bao Design Lab's Project Dose, which addresses the health risks of sick children in developing countries caused by inaccurate medication dosing after they leave the hospital. Project Dose provides a simple system that enables pharmacists, nurses and parents to safely and reliably divide and repackage adult tablets into smaller doses for children.

Bao Design Lab founder Linda Pulik says she started Project Dose with the intention of leveling the playing field: "I find myself in a circumstance where I have access to everything I want. It's not fair to deny the vast majority of the world's population access to very basic goods and services." With Sappi's support through Ideas that Matter, Bao Design Lab has created a launch pad to scale its efforts, making its kits available to nurses, pharmacists and mothers all over Africa.

How to Enter
The call for Ideas that Matter submissions is open to individual designers, design firms, agencies, in-house corporate design departments, design instructors, individual design students and design student groups. Only applicants in North America may apply. Grant awards range from $5,000 to $50,000 per project. Each application must include an IRS 501 (c) 3 letter or Canadian equivalent of the applicant's nonprofit organization.

Applications for the 2014 program must be submitted and postmarked no later than July 11, 2014. Judging takes place in August, grants are announced in September, and awards distributed in October. Projects must be fully implemented within six months of receiving awards. To obtain an entry form and for more information about Ideas that Matter, visit www.sappi.com/ideasthatmatterNA or call 800-882-4332.

Videos of previous winners can be viewed on Sappi's Ideas that Matter microsite at: http://www.na.sappi.com/ideasthatmatterNA/videos/index.html. Additional information and project updates are also available on the Ideas that Matter Facebook page. For more information about Ideas that Matter, follow on Twitter at @SappiNA or @IdeasthatMatter, on Instagram and visit the company's Facebook page.

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, as well as dissolving wood pulp (DWP) and market kraft pulp 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 food packaging brand, Lusterprint is a greaseproof product with an excellent print surface. The company is also the world's leading supplier of release papers for the automotive, fashion and engineered films industries, including the globally recognized Ultracast brand. Sappi's release papers provide the surface aesthetics for synthetic fabrics used in footwear, clothing, upholstery and accessories, as well as the textures for decorative laminates found in kitchens, baths, flooring and other decorative surfaces. Sappi globally is the world's largest manufacturer of dissolving wood pulp, a versatile raw material for a wide range of products including textile fibers and household products. Sappi Fine Paper North America, through the recent conversion of the Cloquet pulp mill, manufactures dissolving pulp under Sappi's Specialised Cellulose division primarily for the textile markets.

Sappi Fine Paper North America is a subsidiary of Sappi Limited (JSE), a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with over 14,000 employees and manufacturing operations on three continents in seven countries and customers in over 100 countries around the world. Learn more about Sappi at: www.sappi.com/na.

For further information:

Rachel Leamon
Burson-Marsteller for Sappi
Office: 617-912-5411
[email protected]

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