PRINTING United Alliance Opens Annual Product of the Year Awards Competition (piworld.com)

During the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, many printing companies scrambled successfully to be designated as essential businesses. For the future of many of these businesses, this was a life or death move — a valiant effort to protect both the business and the jobs therein. As the crisis has developed over the past few months, numerous companies have proven how truly essential they are to the communities they serve, providing capabilities, expertise, and a lifeline for other businesses. Here are a few ways PSPs are supporting their local communities — both during this crisis and well beyond. 1. Finding the Way - Addressing the need for social distancing, and to apply order to what, before the crisis, was a free-form shopping experience, many PSPs with wide-format printing capabilities are producing floor graphics urging social distancing, specifying “one way” in retail aisles, and signifying spacing in check-out or register queues. 2. Creating Functional Barriers - One of the ways the world of retail shopping has changed due to the COVID-19 crisis is the creation of barriers between customer and cashier.

Presented by Printing Impressions, the Gold Ink Awards is the industry’s most prestigious printing competition. The competition is open to all creators and producers of printed materials, and encompasses categories within commercial printing, magazines, books, catalogs, digital printing, and packaging. This year, more than 400 entries were submitted in 43 categories. During the course of two days, several judges who — despite the pandemic — came in to Printing Impressions' offices in downtown Philadelphia to pour over the various entries, deliberating on which submissions would be crowned with Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Pewter designations. For the results go to: https://www.piworld.com/extension/gold-ink-awards/2020/

Worzalla, an employee-owned book printer specializing in printing high-quality children's books, movie tie-in books and cookbooks, raised nearly $50,000 for the United Way of Portage County's Live United, Give United campaign. Money raised for the campaign will go to United Way programs that help Portage County families in need. "Worzalla associates know that when we all come together, we can have a great impact on our community. For at least the third year in a row, Worzalla associates raised funds for the United Way of Portage County" said Kendra Robinson, Worzalla's United Way Campaign Coordinator. "With a mission of bringing people and resources together to achieve measurable results that improve people's lives and strengthen our community, the United Way continues to support the new and ongoing challenges the less fortunate face."