Textile printing contest Although the members of the public commended the quality of all the exhibited entries, only two contestants won the donated prizes. The Grand Prize for the best quality print from all the categories chosen by members of the public was awarded to Ms Maria-Jose Leano from Papaya Design Company, Germany. Her entry, a digital printed jacket showing different leaves of plants, won this award. The jacket was printed using the technique of digital transfer printing on polyester. The design is prepared digitally and printed on paper using disperse dyestuffs on an inkjet printer prepared specially for this purpose. The pattern printed on this way is then transferred to the fabric in a traditional press-calendaring machine using heat and pressure. In this way the dyestuff is automatically fixed and no further finishing is required. "The motif I used is one of a series of macro photography I've been working on in recent years. The picture was scanned and then repeated to create a seamless pattern, using a traditional drawing program. Once the fabric was printed, the jacket was designed and sewn together," according to Ms Leano. Papaya Design will be presented with the Grand Eurostitch Printing Challenge Cup engraved with their name. They will also receive the Grand Prize, a cheque for US$750 donated by the US Screen Printing Institute to be used for any products of the Institute. The First Prize was won by Ms Maria-Jose Leano from Papaya Design - a voucher for ¤500, kindly donated by Chris Kay International Ltd. to be used for purchasing products from their company. Her entry is described above (under 'Grand Prize'). The Second Prize, a discount of US$350 on any purchase of M&R equipment, kindly donated by M&R has been won by Panizzolo Patrizia. The entry, a printed T-shirt in orange colour background showing different decorative print designs in contrasted colours. Eurostitch Magazine would like to congratulate and thank all the participants in the contest, including those who did not win a prize on this occasion. We are looking forward to receiving new entries from all of you in next year's contest. We would also like to express our special thanks to all our sponsors, as without their valuable support there would be no prizes to be won. And of course, we thank the members of the judging panel for their precious time and effort, together with those readers and other members of the public who cast their votes. Next year we hope to receive even more entries, also from those who did not find time this year to participate. If you are a student at a textile school, winning a prize in our Embroidery or Textile Printing contest could be a great career start. If you are an embroiderer or textile printer, a prize in our embroidery or textile printing contests can attract much attention to your company and also establish a good reputation with customers. You can start your embroidery or textile printing now for next year's contest; full details of the contest will be announced in our magazine and on our website within a few months.
	©2004 Eurostitch Magazine