World Assn. of Newspapers and News Publishers opens up its global printing quality competition for the International Newspaper Color Quality Club

Kendall Sinclair

PARIS , July 11, 2013 (press release) – The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) has opened the competition for the 20th anniversary edition of its International Newspaper Color Quality Club, the only worldwide printing quality competition for newspapers.

Newspapers that maintain rigorous printing standards are eligible for membership in the Club, a short list of the world’s best-printed colour newspapers. Membership in the Color Quality Club can increase a newspaper’s prestige among readers, pride among staff members, and – perhaps most importantly -- benefits when it comes to selling ad space to fussy customers.

The goal of the International Newspaper Quality Club is to improve the quality of reproduction and printing in production, while also increasing competitiveness as well as training and motivating all personnel. The competition has been held every two years since 1994.

Newspapers that participate with success are awarded membership for a two-year period in the exclusive club of top-quality titles. Multiple winners and participants in the WAN-IFRA certification project also have the prospect of being awarded membership of the Star Club.

Newspapers that register by 2 October 2013 will benefit from a free preliminary test evaluation by WAN-IFRA. Registration deadline for the 2014-2016 edition of the Club is December 2013. Full details can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/colorqualityclub

New for this edition:

- All newspapers can participate, regardless of their production specifics, due to four different technical categories.

- New, state-of-the-art measuring technology has been introduced, incorporating the latest standards and technical advances.

Easy participation; no special print runs

Participation in the contest can be easily integrated into a newspaper’s normal production operations. Participants download a small ad-like test element and incorporate it into a page – no costly, time-consuming special print runs are required.

Here are some of the benefits of participating:

-Demonstrate consistent and reliable printing in accordance with exacting worldwide standards;
- Promote certification and gain an edge in the competition for readers and advertisers;
- Counter customer complaints more confidently;
- Increase quality awareness and know-how within the workforce;
- Define goals for production personnel and motivate them to achieve those goals; and
- Optimise materials on the basis of detailed evaluations.

Four categories

Participation in the competition is open to all newspapers, independent of the production processes or types of paper that are used. Four categories have been defined:

- Coldset-offset printing on newsprint
- Semicommercial heatset or UV-cured offset printing on newsprint
- Semicommercial heatset or UV-cured offset printing on SC or LWC paper
- Extra category for newspaper printing on tinted paper or for printing processes other than offset (e.g. flexo or ink-jet)

Newspaper titles can be registered by publishing houses or by printing companies. Each title is considered as a separate participant. One company can register several titles, and each title can be registered in several categories if different printing plants are used.

Tutorials

WAN-IFRA offers tutorials in which interested parties and participants in the Color Quality Club competition can familiarise themselves with the relevant ISO standards and Color Quality Club rules.

These are the main topics of the tutorials:

-Importance, use and objectives of the Club
-Overview of procedure and time schedule
-Specifications of the relevant ISO standards
-Expected changes in a new version of the newspaper printing standard
-Printing in accordance with the ISO coldset standard 12647-3: What this means
-Participation categories and test charts
-Description of technical details
-Parameters for a successful participation
-Evaluation of measurements
-Utilities for checking quality in advance
-Judging the general printing quality

WAN-IFRA, based in Paris, France, and Darmstadt, Germany, with subsidiaries in Singapore and India, is the global organisation of the world’s newspapers and news publishers. It represents more than 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries. Its core mission is to defend and promote press freedom, quality journalism and editorial integrity and the development of prosperous businesses.

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