January 2008, BRATTLEBORO, VT — Howard Printing, Inc., a commercial offset printing company serving clients across southern Vermont, northern Massachusetts, and western New Hampshire, won a first-place “Pinnacle” award and a second-place “Award of Recognition” in the inaugural Awards of Excellence Competition presented by the Printing Industries of New England (PINE).

PINE selected Howard Printing for the “Pinnacle” (Best of Category) award for the Bears in the Valley Auction Catalog, which was produced for the Mount Snow Valley Chamber of Commerce. The catalog was designed by Howard Printing in collaboration with Sarah Shippee, the Chamber point person. The principal photographer was Mark Linton of West Dover, with additional photographs supplied by Shippee. Limited copies of the catalog are still available for sale at the Chamber office on Main Street in Wilmington.

Howard Printing earned the second-place “Award of Recognition” in the Greeting Card/Invitation/Program/Postcard category for the Canal Street Redevelopment postcard, which was produced for SVE Associates, a private civil/survey engineering consulting firm with offices in Brattleboro, Bennington, White River Junction, Rutland, Keene, and Greenfield. The postcard was one of a series designed by Chuck Gibson Design of Hanover (NH). The photographer was John Douglas of Flying Squirrel Graphics.

“I am extremely proud of our team here at Howard Printing for their dedication to detail and quality, and thrilled to be able to share this recognition with our clients,” says Howard Printing founder and president Greg Howard.

The competition attracted 340 entries from 56 printing and imaging companies in New England. Awards were announced at a gala on November 1, 2007, in Framingham (MA). Winners were featured in the December 2007 issue of the New England Printer & Publisher magazine.

Each entry was judged on its own merit in a category with similarly printed pieces, by a panel of three non-New England printing experts. The judging criteria, which focused on technical quality and print execution, included: registration, clarity and neatness, sharpness of halftones and line drawings, richness and tonal qualities of color, paper and ink selection, ink coverage, difficulty of printing, effective contrast or softness, overall visual impact and bindery.

According to PINE President James Tepper, “Only those printers who produced truly exquisite work were honored. Those printers receiving awards can take pride as being recognized among New England’s finest printers.”

PINE is a 118-year-old organization and the largest trade association to serve printing and graphic communications companies throughout New England. PINE serves more than 430 member companies through a wide range of products and services that enhance member profitability. The Association is affiliated with the world’s largest graphic arts trade association, Printing Industries of America / Graphic Arts Technical foundation.

Founded in 1991, Howard Printing is a full-service printing company providing one- to four-color offset printing, desktop publishing and design services, computer-to-plate prepress technologies, and bindery operations. In addition, Howard Printing is the publisher of “The ABC’s of Vermont” coloring book and of the “New England Showcase” real estate magazine, a free publication which can be found on newsstands and online at www.newenglandshowcase.com.

For more information, visit Howard Printing online at www.howardprintinginc.com or contact Howard at 802-254-3550 or info@howardprintinginc.com.