Momento Pro crowned king of print with US Benny
Sydney based printer Momento Pro has been crowned the king of global print, winning the 2019 US Premier Print Awards James H Mayes Jr Memorial Best of Show prize.
Momento Pro took out what is considered the top spot in global print for a collector’s edition art book, Middlehurst | Middle Earth, printed on an Epson inkjet printer.
Known as the Bennys, and now in their 71st year, the Premier Print Awards is the largest and most prestigious print competition on the global scene, recognised as the Academy Awards of the print world.
At the Premier Print Awards Gala dinner in Chicago, the Momento Pro book was awarded Best of Show. Award manager Mike Packard describes this as, "The number one award of the evening, the best of the best, resulting from all the Best of Category winners being judged against each other.
“This was as close to a unanimous decision as we have ever had. Middlehurst | Middle Earth is a collector’s item. Congratulations Momento Pro on your Best in Show."
Michael Makin, president and CEO of Printing Industries of America, stated that, “The Benny winners represent the best our industry has to offer. This year’s entries were outstanding, with 2,238 from 13 countries.”
Momento Pro was notified that Middlehurst | Middle Earth had won the 2019 Best of Category for Art Books (four or more colours), representing the most outstanding coffee-table book devoted to the reproduction of art, photography, or artistic collections. The judges stated that, "The title of this masterpiece is Middle Earth but a better title might be out of this world. Each spread is a visual feast for the senses. In the toughest category, this is numero uno. Extraordinary colour."
This self-published limited edition book is a 42 x 42 cm inkjet-printed colossus featuring flawless photography from renowned Australian photographer Peter Eastway, who captured the grandeur of the New Zealand landscape on a Phase 1 camera then printed the images in a size and quality that did the files justice.
The book was handcrafted from the highest quality materials with the longest lifespan available today. It was printed onto 100 per cent cotton rag using Epson Ultrachrome archival inks, and colour profiles created by international colour expert Les Walkling. These were the same ingredients that led Momento Pro to winning the Art Books (four or more colours) category in 2016 for the Ken Duncan Portfolio Collection – also a collector’s item.
Momento Pro co-founder Geoff Hunt confirmed that, “Winning the Best of Show is humbling recognition of our 15 year focus on quality not quantity, for all our products, and for all our customers – consumers, professionals, photographers, artists and corporates. We will also continue helping Antipodeans preserve their artwork and memories in world class quality prints, right here in Sydney, and prove that printing photographs is far from dead.”
Since the family-owned print-on-demand photo book service was established in 2004, Momento Pro has won 100 print awards, and the respect of the local photography and print industry for its community support including establishing the first photo book awards in Australia and New Zealand; co-founding the first photo book festivals in Australia and New Zealand; contributing to the preservation of 52 Antipodean photo books in the Tate (UK); supporting the launch of hundreds of self published books; and establishing programmes to assist students and camera club members.
