Pictured above: The Moro Ultra label

The 2024 World Label Awards competition, organised by the L9 Group of international label associations, was judged by an international panel of judges selected from each of the participating associations.

The judging took place in Chicago the day before the Labelexpo America exhibition opened.

The only route for submitting a label is through the relevant L9 association. In Australia, this is the FPLMA and in New Zealand, it is the SALMA.

The A/NZ winners include:

Winner of the Class 2: Flexo Line/Screen award – Fantastick Label Co. (Australia) for Moro Ultra

• This label was printed in four colours plus varnish on a clear PP substrate in four passes. A punchy label with lots of colour and vignetted shading, and excellent coverage in the solid colour areas.

Winner of the Class 3 Flexo Colour Process award – Kiwi Labels (New Zealand) for Win with Kylie

• An innovative self-adhesive neck tag printed on a combination of PP synthetic and paper substrates in three passes. The clear face stock was delaminated from its liner, printed with gloss varnish to neutralise the tack. The reverse reading four colour process printed over the face of the clear material created the reverse side of the tag. The paper top layer was produced on the second pass with challenging reversed out white detail. Subsequently the two films were laminated together in tight register and rotary die-cut.

Winner of the Class 12 Offset Wine and Spirits award – Multicolor Corporation (Australia) for Brix Core Range-Mandarin Liqueur

• Printed on a Nilpeter MO4 Offset press in five colours on a paper substrate this is a bright orange orientated label which uses an extra black to add contrast. A silver foil, a flexo sealer, a High Build Gloss varnish and a flexo spot satin varnish were the applied to give the label an extra dimension. Debossing was added to the black banner and embossing to the word Brix to enhance the silver foil branding.

Winner of the Class 18 Digital Line / Screen award – Leading Label Co. (New Zealand) for 26K Glacial Water

• This two-sided label with a bold image was created by printing two films in four passes in five colours. The reversed back image was printed onto clear stock. A gloss laminate was used for maximum impact. The front image was printed onto silver foil substrate, which had been laminated onto the back film.

Winner of the Class 20 Digital Wine & Spirits award – Ultra Labels & Flexpack (Australia) for Cotes de Hentley

• A nice, clean looking label with clear and sharp type. The customer requested a premium looking label with a thick stock, so with this in mind a stock constructed to push the capabilities of the machines. Printed using four colours, the real challenge began. Using a clear foil the bottle numbers were highlighted to show the edition number of the vintage and batch. Finished off with a blind emboss and a matt varnish the result was delivered to the customer’s satisfaction.

Winner of the Class 23 Booklets award – Kiwi Labels (New Zealand) for Manuka Concertina Honey Label

• This label was printed using flexography in two colours in three passes. The top web was printed as a separate pass with a fine detailed flexo cold foil and 877 silver. This created the over-laminate that secures the booklet to the base web. Booklets were produced and folded to fit five lanes across the 330mm web. The booklets were inserted onto a base web and secured with the pre-printed over laminate. The Prati operator precisely made-ready the inserting and flexo unit to ensure a seamless production run. Once the inserting unit was set and synchronised with the printed base web, the operator applied and registered the pre-printed laminate over the booklets. The multi-layered construction then passed through the rotary die station. Accurate alignment of die to the circular multi-layered design ensures the label would function as required. With limited margin for error, the operator printed the base, inserted the booklet, applied the pre-printed over-laminate and die-cut all in-line.

Winner (one of three) of the Class 24 Innovation award – MCC Albany (New Zealand) for Red Mill Rum

• This label was printed digitally in four colours along with spot matt varnish, matt high build varnish and the removal of internal die-cut waste. The difficulty was to remove 46 die-cut areas on press without compromising the integrity of the label and without requiring additional equipment. The difficulty in production using textured material was to balance printing large hotfoil areas and fine reversed out type within the three passes required to produce the final result.

Highly commended for the Class 4 Flexo Wines and Spirits award – MCC Albany (New Zealand) for Elephant Hill Sparkling Rosé

• This label depicts the sun, land and water necessary to produce a great wine. Printed using flexography in four colours in one pass including cold foil, spot matt and spot gloss. By using gloss and matt varnishes, a considerable contrast is achieved between the elements of the design. In pre-press and subsequently on press, registration was critical to obtain minimal bleed, taking into account that cold foiling “grows”.

Highly commended for the Class 16 Combination Wine/ Spirit award – Label Avenue (Australia) for Fortell Vodka

• A classy looking Vodka label. First pass, printing of reverse detail onto clear PP. Second pass, top substrate laminated onto first pass PP.  Third pass digitally printed by, and on fourth pass, laminated with matt, high build screen print tactile varnish and die cut.

Highly commended for the Class 18 Digital Line / Screen award – Ultra Labels and Flexpack (Australia) for Amino Corps Food Supplement Label

• This label was printed digitally in four colours plus white onto silver PP substrate. Using spot varnish, the terrain was highlighted in detail in the background, to ensure that the design shone through the spot flexo varnishes to create the desired result. The high build screen varnish creating extra depth.