Mohawk Recognizes Sir Speedy Owners, Names HP Contest Winners

Mohawk Fine Papers Inc., Cohoes, N.Y., recently awarded Joanne and Tom Penisch a new Toyota Prius. The Lyndhurst, N.J.-based Sir Speedy owners were the winners of Mohawk's 2008 Go Green Hybrid Giveaway Sweepstakes.

The sweepstakes ended the inaugural year of Mohawk's Go Green 2008 pilot program. Currently, there are nearly 1,000 printers participating in this nationwide program designed to educate both printers and customers about Mohawk's wide variety of—and readily available—environmental papers.

Environmental Options

"Go Green is fully supported with marketing materials and sales support. In this first year, we have seen this program become a proven way to appeal to customers looking for environmental options," said Bart Robinson, vice president, Strategic Market and Channel Development, Mohawk Fine Papers.

"We were proud to become part of the Go Green program, and to be able to more easily offer our customers environmental choices. Winning the Prius was a great surprise and we're looking forward to adding our new hybrid car to our efforts to make more sustainable choices," said Joanne Penisch.

Finding the Best

Mohawk also announced the winners of its first annual i-Tonie Awards. As an HP Indigo Preferred Partner, Mohawk created the i-Tonie Awards to celebrate work that is printed on any of Mohawk's i-Tone paper grades on an HP Indigo press.

The Best of Show 2008 award was given to "Miro: The Masonite Series Spain 1936," printed by Hurtwood Press at Precision Printing Co. Limited, Surrey, U.K., and designed by Studio Fernando Gutierrez, London, for Helly Nahmad Gallery Ltd. It received a $1,000 cash prize.

"I felt the Miro piece was the epitome of what digital can do. The color matching for these works of art had to be dead on and the printer accomplished that," said show judge Bill Garno, director, Printing Applications Laboratory, at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

In addition to the Best of Show award, three honorable mention awards were presented, with each winner receiving $250.

A distinguished jury of industry professionals reviewed all entries, seeking projects that exhibit intelligent design, maximization of HP Indigo capabilities, and excellence in production.

This year's judges included Frank Romano, professor emeritus, School of Print Media, RIT; Garno; Todd Kalagher, president, Finlay Printing; and Brett Traylor, partner, Thinkso Creative.

Mohawk has been at the forefront of digital print technologies for over a decade, with a sustained investment in product development and marketing of papers, which are optimized for digital presses.

"Our i-Tone surface treatment is a tangible expression of not only our commitment to digital papers research and development, but also our continued involvement with original equipment manufacturers like HP to understand equipment and markets so we can offer relevant, value-added products to Indigo printers" said Christopher Harrold, vice president, Market Development, Emerging Print Technologies, Mohawk Fine Papers.

Mohawk is the first U.S. paper mill to offset its electricity with renewable windpower.