International Newspaper Color Quality Club

Be part of the Newspaper Printing Elite

Darmstadt, May 2009. IFRA, supported by NAA, PANPA and ZMG are pleased to announce that registration for contest of membership for International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2010–2012 is open. The IFRA International Newspaper Color Quality Club 2010-2012 has been completely revamped.

The modified operational plan optimises the test period
The rules ensure a practice-oriented evaluation, reduce the investment of time and effort to participate and open up Club membership to all who consistently produce high quality in conformity to ISO standards
4 categories enable nearly all newspaper printing plants to participate in the competition, independent of the printing processes and materials used.

The new operational plan is as follows.

Online registration from May to end December 2009
Early registrations up to October 2009 have the possibility to avail of a free-of-charge test run in November 2009
Production and submission of the monthly test prints between January and April 2010
Final evaluation and announcement of the new Club members in June 2010
Presentation of the winners at IFRA Expo in October 2010.

The newly developed test element resembles a colour ad and is as wide as a standard text column. It can be incorporated into the regular issue without appearing out of place. This will make the test more practice-oriented, simpler to carry out and thus much more cost-effective.

Entry fees for participation per newspaper title
€ 800 for participants in standardisation projects
€ 1200 for IFRA, NAA and PANPA members
€ 2400 for Non-members

Download the eight page PDF brochure at the end of this page for all details!

Categories

The creation of additional categories opens up the competition for the first time also to newspapers that work with heatset or UV or that are printed by a process other than coldset-offset and, instead of newsprint, for example, use SC, LWC or tinted paper. This takes due account also of the growing trend towards semi-commercial production.

1: Coldset on Newsprint
2: Heatset/UV on Newsprint
3: Heatset/UV on SC or LWC paper
4: Extra Category for Flexo, Digital and Colorized Paper

Awarded membership

All those newspapers that show they can produce within the tolerances specified in the instructions and present an overall good printing quality will be welcomed into the exclusive INCQC. Achieving a predefined number of points is decisive for success.

Your Benefits

The advertising effectiveness of a certified Club membership is very powerful. International, national and local advertisers can be convinced by testifying a high production quality and keeping the rigorous ISO-standards over a longer period. Your newspaper proves the competitiveness to other media.

Meeting and exceeding your customers’ expectations with regards to print quality.
Benchmarking your color quality against well-defined standards by participating in the only worldwide newspaper print quality competition.
Receiving a detailed audit, which highlights areas of strength as well as areas of potential improvement, including the identification of printing defects.
Providing motivation and justification to staff members for the introduction of required changes.
Receiving powerful marketing tools for extended business and convincing customers
Proven and verified color quality in daily production by keeping demanding standards
Testified general printing quality, evaluated under “typical reader conditions”, so the reader obtains a high-quality and attractive product

Free download:
International Newspaper Color Quality Club book 2008-2010

Downloads

Brochure & Registration, English (INCQC_Brochure_E.pdf, 1737 kb)

Instructions, English (INCQC_2010_Instructions_E_090616.pdf, 1025 kb)

Cuboid - scaleable (Cuboid_scaleable.pdf, 250 kb)

Cuboid - non scaleable (Cuboid_non_scaleable.pdf, 252 kb)

Registermark (Registermark.eps, 120 kb)

Winners Book 2008-2010 (INCQC_2008-2010_A4_BookofWinners_LR.pdf, 14143 kb)