Innovation was the theme of last night's awards dinner, which was hosted by newsreader John Mangos and held at Dockside restaurant in Darling Harbour, Sydney.
Click here to see all the photos.
On Demand, which won the digital variable self-promotion category, regards innovation as essential to its survival, said managing director Bruce Peddlesden.
"We can all see the way the printing industry is tending. The growth is going to come out of personalisation of innovation," he told ProPrint.
"There has to be new and better ways of doing things if you want to survive in the industry. Traditional markets are drying up, so we have to try to create new markets."
Carbon8, which claimed the digital non-variable award for its Listen calendar, has a strategy of focusing on quality and service rather than price, said director Kenneth Beck.
"If you choose to be competitive on price, you've only got price to play with. If you choose to be competitive with innovation, it's a different strategy," he said.
"There's a tendency that print has become a commodity. Unless we address that, print will die. If printing is a commodity, it's about squeezing it to the lowest possible price, which will mean it will seem cheaper and cheaper to go online."
Evolve Printing, which won the offset self-promotion prize for its Think magazine, also uses innovation to differentiate itself from its rivals, said managing director Graham Deaner.
"To be relevant, you need to keep educating yourself about what's possible. Without innovation, we're going to be stagnant and end up becoming irrelevant as an industry," he said.
"You see businesses that have been around for a while and doing the same thing over and over again. You need to have a point of difference. We're using old-fashioned methods that have been around for a long time but are looking at new ways of using them."
Superior Foil Print has also turned to innovation as a way to stand out from the crowd, said manager John Rushgrove.
"Where embossing is at the moment, it's never gone anywhere. It's always been stagnant," he told ProPrint.
"[Printovation] want something that's different and that's where we're heading. We're going to areas where no one has ever been before. I don't know how far I can go with it."
This year's awards attracted about twice as many entries as last year, said GASAA executive officer Garry Knespal.
WINNERS
Offset
Eleven Eleven Design
Offset (self-promotion)
Evolve Printing
Digital variable (self-promotion)
On Demand
Digital non-variable
Carbon8
Embellishment/finishing
Carbon8
Embellishment/finishing (self-promotion)
Superior Foil Print
General
Studio3D
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Embellishment/finishing
Colour Communications
Digital non-variable
PicPress
Digital non-variable
Digitalpress
Digital non-variable
Momento Pro
General
The Artisan Press
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter