International newspapers from around the world – including the ‘Sydney Morning Herald’ and a print site in Dubai – have shared digital printing honours in the UK’s Newspaper Awards.

Kodak sponsored the new award category for this year’s competition… and promptly won it, thanks to an edition of the ‘Sunday Times’ printed by Miller Newsprint on its Versamark VL4200 inkjet web equipment.

The Malta print site was also commended for ‘The Times’ and had its production of ‘The Sun’ nominated.

Following installation of the Kodak system, Miller Newsprint now prints on site all of the 60 international titles it distributes, resulting in a 20 per cent rise in newspaper sales, thanks to competitive pricing and same-day availability.

The success of the move has led to the establishment of Hellenic Miller Newsprint in Greece some months later to print 25 of the titles it distributes.

Miller Group chief executive Malcolm Miller says the company initially had to overcome negative perceptions about quality: “The award goes to show just how good that quality is,” he says.

Other winners in the category were:
Highly commended– ‘The Wall Street Journal’ - Atlas Printing, Dubai (Screen TruepressJet 520); nominated– ‘The New York Times’ and ‘The Sydney Morning Herald’ - Stroma, London (Océ JetStream 1000).

Click here for the full list of awards.