MACtac Graphic Products recently announced the winners for the North American territory of the 2008 MACtac Graphics Worldwide Awards program. MACtac, a manufacturer of self-adhesive vinyl films, hosts the program every two years. It’s designed to showcase the talent, skill, and creativity of printers, designers, and installers in the graphics industry.

MACtac received nearly 150 entries from sign shops, printers, photographers, design studios, and exhibit houses throughout Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Submissions included visual-communication projects produced in 2006 and 2007 with MACtac adhesive media. Entries were judged in four major categories: Technical Achievement, Exterior Signs, Interior Signs, and Vehicle Graphics. Judging criteria included creativity, visual impact, and technical achievement, with a strong focus on converting and application skills. One winner was named in each of the four categories and regional first through third place winners were named within the North American territory.

The award for Technical Achievement went to USA’s Metro Media Displays/Laird Plastics for its Tiger Trash Removal Wrap, which took six installers 125 hours to complete. The Interior Signs award went to Canada’s Icon Digital for is Sarah Jessica Parker Elevator Wrap, which covers both elevator doors and continues onto the floor. Mexico’s Trazo won the Exterior Signs award for its three-dimensional Chinicuile's Restaurant Sign, which involved canvas-mounted vinyl stretched onto tubular structures. The Vehicle Graphics award went to USA’s Performance Graphics for the shop’s Charlotte’s Web Trailer, which involved graphic applied to the exterior and interior of a traveling interactive display.

The judging panel consisted of editors and publishers of sign industry and digital publications, as well as independent experts in the fields of design, digital printing, sign-making, and application skills. Among the judges were Wade Swormstedt, editor and publisher of Signs of the Times, and Nancy Bottoms, editor and associate publisher of Signs of the Times and Screen Printing en Español, both of which are published by ST Media Group Int’l, Screen Printing magazine’s parent company. For more information about the awards program, visit www.mactac.com.