Considered the industry’s highest honor, the award was presented last October during SGIA ’03 in Atlanta, GA.
Harold Johnston’s lifetime achievements in and contributions to the screen-printing industry earned him the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association Int’l (SGIA) Howard Parmele Award. Considered the industry’s highest honor, the award was presented last October during SGIA ’03 in Atlanta, GA.
During Johnston’s career, he served as production manager for an outdoor advertising printer, worked as a technical sales representative for General Research/General Formulations, and helped launch the Sakurai line of presses. Additionally, he held titles of sales manager and executive vice president for KC Coatings, sales manager and marketing manager for Midwest Coatings, and marketing manager for Sericol USA. From 1993 until his retirement in 2002, he was vice president for market development at Nazdar.
Johnston’s accomplishments include developing the first direct/indirect stencil film in 1964 and the first screen-printing pin-register system in 1966. Also in 1966, he established the first screen-printing school at Rochester Institute of Technology. Additionally, he formulated a sales and marketing plan for the screen-printing industry’s first production UV system (1974) and presented numerous seminars to promote UV inks and educate screen printers about the products. He has served on SGIA’s board of directors and many committees.
Also during SGIA ’03, the association presented the 2003 Dave Swormstedt, Sr. Memorial Award to Dr. John Anderson. The annual award, which recognizes excellence in technical papers about screen printing, was given to Anderson for his two-part series, “Mesh Movement and Its Impact on Screen Tension”. The article appeared in the Mar. and Apr. 2003 issues of Screen Printing magazine.