Sydney based Imagination Graphics topped this year’s Konica Minolta National Specialised Print Awards, beating out printers from around the country for its Hamptons pop-up book.
The company was competing against Konica Minolta’s top picks from each state, including Whoyou Creative in South Australia, Tako Print Solutions from Western Australia, Tennyson Print from Queensland, Revolution Print of Victoria and Elect Printing representing the ACT.
To see photos from the night, head here.
The finalists had been selected out of a record number of 245 entries. The judging panel this year consisted of Real Media Collective CEO Kellie Northwood, Kenneth Beck from Carbon8, Anthony Parnemann of EFI as well as Konica Minolta’s Darrell John.
Emmanuel Buhagiar, owner of Imagination, accepted the award, dedicating it to his team. As the top prize, he will be receiving a trip to Tokyo to visit Konica Minolta’s headquarters.
Buhagiar says, “I am gobsmacked and blown away, to win against all those printers from across Australia is amazing.
“We have entered for the last two years and have not made it this far before.”
When asked what was different this year, Buhagiar says, “The uniqueness of the job and the difficulty of the printing, die-cutting and production. It is a pop-up book which is different and I think it definitely got their attention.
“We may enter some other national print awards in the future. Sometimes you come across jobs worth showcasing.
“Our association with Konica Minolta is strong. They bend over backwards to help us. The service team is good and they help us produce quality work. They are a good organisation to be involved with.”
[Related: Imagination buys Mimaki press]
The awards were hosted at the Park Hyatt hotel in Sydney.
Sue Threlfo, general manager, Production and Industrial Print, Konica Minolta says, The categories this year have been expanded, with digital flat sheet, digital print bound books, digital brochures, digital labels and digital embellishment.
“The NSPA is a celebration of our customers and it is way for us to recognise their creativity combined with the Konica Minolta engines to produce such amazing work for their customers.
“We have never seen such quality before – and as a result the judging was challenging. I came in to witness the judges hard at work, the categories and jobs are diverse.
“They judge the quality of the document against the category and there is scoring that is collated, all done in secrecy so that each does not know what the other is judging.”
Dr David Cooke, managing director, Konica Minolta told attendees the company was also competing for an awards of its own, being one of the five finalists for the Australian Human Rights Award. Konica Minolta, under Cooke’s leadership, have been working to stamp slavery out of its supply chains, and compelling other businesses to do the same.
Imagination has also recently acquired a new Mimaki wide format press, another investment adding the the multiple pieces of equipment and businesses it has bought this year.
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