Diamond Packaging of Rochester, NY earned 13 awards in the prestigious 56th Annual National Paperbox Association (NPA) Packaging Competition. Awards were announced at the Association’s 2006 Annual Meeting, held June 24-27, 2006 in Quebec City, Canada.

The NPA Awards Competition is the foremost packaging competition in the rigid box and folding carton industry, and is an opportunity to showcase the most innovative and distinctive designs produced over the last year. Winning one of the coveted NPA awards is a mark of excellence in the packaging field and recognition of superior achievement.

This year’s competition was held in conjunction with Packaging Strategies and its PackageDesign’06 Conference and Exhibition. The Association’s Packaging Competition debuted as part of the PackageDesign “Packaging Inspiration Exhibition” at this national designers conference.

Diamond Packaging’s winning submissions competed against hundreds of entries from around the world. The company was honored with two Gold Awards and 11 Excellence Awards.

“Diamond’s winning entries were beautifully manufactured and genuinely worthy of special recognition,” said Scott Miller, Executive Vice President of the NPA. “Their designs are on the cutting edge of innovation and quality in today’s global packaging environment.”

Diamond employed special graphic techniques for the Shania by Stetson gift set packaging, elevating a standard tuck carton to an unprecedented level. The .024 SBS paperboard cartons are complemented by embossing and gold foil accents around the window and for the stars, which are prominently displayed on the carton. The gold stars, which are meant to represent studs, connect the package to both the country-western image of Shania Twain and to the Stetson brand.

The vibrant pink fragrance cartons feature two hits of pink, special flexo gold ink, and pearlized matte aqueous coating. Hot foil stamping and embossing further enhance the graphics. Flexo gold ink was applied in-line on Diamond’s new Heidelberg offset press equipped with a Flexokit chambered blade coating system. The Flexokit is optimized for metallic and pearl luster coatings, delivering denser coverage, with greater uniformity.

The Godiva Platinum Collection represents new, sophisticated tastes and textures that take Godiva beyond the classic gold confections. Diamond’s new packaging designs emphasize this point, reflecting a departure from their existing product line.

The carton graphics showcase Godiva's familiar hot foil stamped and embossed logo, leveraging their distinguished brand identity. As an alternative to their traditional gold foilboard packaging, a special gold textured board was selected, lending an elegant appearance to the package. Two-toned graphics complemented by UV matte coating further enhance the presentation. The display features similar graphics, but with a special pearlized aqueous coating applied overall.

Diamond employed special graphic techniques for the L’Oreal USA / Matrix holiday packaging. Prominently displayed at fine hair salons nationwide, the annual promotion is a proven success and highlights the value of creativity and shelf appeal.

All cartons feature a .024 SBS holographic foilboard complemented by stunning graphics, special color inks, and UV gloss coating. A curved score on the front panel is designed to bow slightly outward, radiating unique light patterns and different color reflections, depending upon the viewing angle. This technique instantly draws the attention of consumers as they walk past the display.

Diamond utilized its new TruCOLOR™ color system in the production of the Giggles Computer Funtime For Baby™ CD gift sets and sleeves. It enabled Diamond to print the equivalent of 18 different colors in just one pass.

The Diamond TruCOLOR™ color system is a proprietary method of color control, color monitoring and color matching, offering unparalleled quality and economic benefits compared to traditional four-color process printing. The Diamond TruCOLOR™ color system uses just six colors to accurately and optimally reproduce over 1000 colors, while delivering near-photographic fidelity from an offset printing process. It is an efficient and economical method for reproducing a variety of vibrant and subtle colors without expensive plate changes.

The Diamond TruCOLOR™ color system also incorporates frequency modulated (FM) screening. FM screening is unique in that it varies the number of dots used, as opposed to amplitude modulated (AM) screening, which varies the size of the dot. The 20-micron FM dot eliminates all issues related to screen angles, resulting in smoother vignettes and softer color-to-color transitions not possible with traditional four-color process printing.

Diamond Contract Manufacturing (DCM) provided all fulfillment, including packing cartons with components, and distributing orders to retail locations and direct customers.

Other winning highlights include a Godiva carton featuring two-toned graphics printed over silver foilboard, and a Diamond corporate calendar featuring a multitude of enhancements, including UV matte coating, UV gloss spot coating, foil stamping, refractive foil stamping, combination stamping, and embossing.

Click here for a complete list of Diamond Packaging’s winning entries.

Since 1911, Diamond Packaging has dedicated itself to providing the highest standard of quality, innovation and cost effective packaging for companies including Beiersdorf, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coty, Eastman Kodak, Godiva Chocolatier, Procter & Gamble, and L’Oreal USA. As part of the Global Packaging Alliance (GPA), Diamond Packaging and its alliance members offer packaging solutions to companies operating on an international scale. Customers receive responsive, localized service, award-winning creative designs, identical product specifications and consistent brand recognition, resulting in unparalleled worldwide packaging support.

For more information about Diamond Packaging, contact Dennis Bacchetta at (585) 334-8030 x229 or visit the website at www.diamondpackaging.com. For more information about the National Paperbox Association, contact Scott Miller at (703) 684-2212 or visit the website at www.paperbox.org.