Judges Select 57 In-Print Contest Winners

By Bob Neubauer

Despite receiving fewer entries than in a normal non-pandemic year, it took the judges all day Monday to examine the In-Print 2022 contest entries and pick winners. As a result, 57 pieces from 28 different in-plants were selected to win prizes in In-Print 2022, the only printing contest exclusively for in-plants.

Forrest McGuire, Bobbi Francis, Ben Fowler and Curt Hastings examine entries in the calendars category.

The judging took place in its traditional March timeframe, unlike in the past two years when it was delayed several months due to the pandemic. This was also the first time since 2019 that judges did not have to wear masks while looking at entries.

It was my first time back at judging since 2019, though my arrival was delayed by a sudden Sunday sleet storm that closed the Kansas City airport and diverted me to Des Moines for the night. But I made it to In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) headquarters in Kearney, Missouri, in time for lunch Monday and watched the judging of the non-offset categories.

Though the full winners’ list is still being double-checked and will be released soon, we can offer a few details. Some of the usual big winners scored fewer awards this year, and one in-plant that didn’t win a single award in last year’s contest soared to the top of the winners’ list this year, beating everyone else in the number of awards.

In-Print 2022 judges stand outside IPMA headquarters after judging. Front, from left: Forrest McGuire, Bobbi Francis and Bob Neubauer. Back row, from left: Larry Clements, Ben Fowler and Curt Hastings.

Oregon State University won Gold after Gold, amassing six of them, and earning nine total awards. Close behind was the University of Oklahoma, which won seven awards, three of them Gold. Other big winners were The World Bank Group and Kohler Co. with four awards each and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with three.

In-plants that earned two awards included Bloomberg, Blue Valley School District, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, Monument Health, Parkland College, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Scenes from In-Print 2022 contest judging.

Judges Bobbi Francis and Forrest McGuire at the In-Print 2022 contest judging.

Once all pieces had been judged, we returned all the Gold winners to the table to select Best of Show winners for the offset categories and the non-offset categories. Those winners will be revealed at the IPMA conference in June, along with the Best of Show winners from the 2021 and 2020 In-Print contests.

Watch for the full winners’ list in the days ahead.

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Bob Neubauer Author's 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.