ICMA Blog

Spotlight Cast on Global Card Industry Leaders at ICMA’s Élan Awards

Winners Recognized at ICMA’s 17th Annual Awards Ceremony on April 8th

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ – April 11, 2014 – The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) announced the winners for card manufacturing excellence on April, 8, 2014, at the awards dinner held during the annual Card Manufacturing & Personalization EXPO at the Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

In the global arena of world-class cards, the ICMA Élan Awards for Excellence are the pinnacle of design innovation and technical achievement. Past recipients have included leading card manufacturers from around the globe. Winners of this prestigious competition tap the power of industry recognition and promotional opportunity.

ICMA distinguishes manufacturer, supplier and per¬sonalization/fulfillment members before peers and customers as industry leaders through the Élan awards program. Based upon nine unique judging criteria, an independent panel of card industry experts recognized one winner and two finalists in each award category. Awards are presented to both winning manufacturers and their card customers.

The 2014 finalists and winners are:

Secure Payment Cards:
Finalist: Valid for the Indian Motorcycle Card manufactured for Capitol One
Finalist: CompoSecure, L.L.C. and Goldpac Secur-Card, Ltd. for the China CITIC Bank Diamond Metal Hybrid Credit Card manufactured for China CITIC Bank
Winner: CompoSecure, L.L.C. for the Lions Bank Master Key Credit Card manufactured for Idea Bank

Loyalty, Promotional, Gift Cards:
Finalist: CPI Card Group for the Love You Card manufactured for Stored Value Solutions (SVS)
Finalist: JET for the Victoria’s Secret Card manufactured for SVS/Victoria’s Secret
Winner: Valid for the Target Gift City Card manufactured for First Data/Target

ID and Access Control Cards:
Finalist: Trüb AG for the Washington DC Driver’s License manufactured for Marquis ID Systems
Finalist: Canadian Bank Note Company, Ltd. for the New York State Enhanced Driver License manufactured for the State of New York
Winner: Bundesdruckerei GmbH for the Governance Card manufactured for Bundesdruckerei GmbH

Unique Innovation:
Finalist: Plastek Cards, Inc. for the Fabrek Card manufactured for Grand General
Finalist: CompoSecure, L.L.C. for the Citibank Asia Ultima Metal Hybrid Card manufactured for Citibank Asia
Winner: ABnote for the Qantas Card manufactured for Qantas Airlines

Personalization & Fulfillment (P&F) Product, Service or Project:
Finalist: ABnote for the ESSO Ultimate Hockey Fan Pack for ESI Inc.
Winner: Travel Tags for their Starbucks Gold Card Membership for Starbucks Coffee Company

Best Supplier/Vendor New Product, Service or Innovation:
Finalist: H.W. Sands Corp. for their PET Bonding Film for bonding dissimilar substrates
Finalist: Cross-Core Technology, Inc. for their PINSeal Scratch Off System
Winner: Otto Küennecke GmbH for their DCS – Document Commissioning and Storage System

People’s Choice (selected by ICMA EXPO delegates):
Finalist: JET for the La Senza Card manufactured for La Senza/SVS
Finalist: CompoSecure, L.L.C. and Goldpac Secur-Card, Ltd. for the China Citic Bank Diamond Metal Hybrid Credit Card manufactured for China Citic Bank
Winner: Giesecke & Devrient America, Inc. for the IHG Rewards Club Card manufactured for Chase

The judging criteria for the winners are based on three categories: Card Manufacturers, Personalization & Fulfillment and Supplier. More on the specifics of these three criteria’s can be found here.

For more information on ICMA, contact Lynn McCullough at 609-799-4900 or email LMccullough@icma.com.

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About ICMA
Based in Princeton Junction, NJ, ICMA is a non-profit association of card manufacturers, personalizers, suppliers and related industry participants. With more than 240 members globally, ICMA acts as a resource for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of cards. More information is available at www.icma.com.
Editor’s Note: JPEG images for the winners are available upon request. Please contact Elana Stein at (609) 297-2210 or email estein@icma.com.