Some in-plants get it. Yale University, Bloomberg, Excellus BlueCross Blue Shield — every year these and dozens of other in-plants take the time to enter samples of their print work in the In-Print contest. Often they're rewarded with prizes, which boosts their reputations internally.
But hundreds of other in-plants never enter the contest. And that's sad, because it doesn't take much effort, especially if you involve your staff.
"Each department from design to bindery is involved in collecting possible winners," notes Sherri Isbell, assistant director of the University of Oklahoma's in-plant. Her staff saves entries all year long.
In-Print 2019—the only printing contest exclusively for in-plants—is an excellent way to show off the quality of your shop's work. Your employees will be proud just to know their work was selected for entry, as will the customers who ordered those jobs. You owe it to them to make the effort.
As a perk for IPMA members, their first three entries are free. Other in-plants pay a very low entry fee — just $35 per piece. (Compare this with other printing contests, which charge more than $100 per entry!)
Not only does the contest have numerous categories for both offset and non-offset pieces...
- There is a category for projects printed using both techniques.
- There are categories for VDP and cross-media projects.
- Three categories are for smaller in-plants only, so they're not competing against the big guys.
- New this year is a Special Projects category for inkjet and dye-sublimation work
To see the online entry form and read tips on how to win, visit our In-Print Contest page.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.