PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., April 18, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA), a global trade association for card manufacturers, personalizers, issuers and supplier, has announced its winners of the 2016 Élan Awards for Card Manufacturing Excellence.

Jeffrey Barnhart, ICMA founder and executive director, revealed the winners at a festive carnival themed evening reception and dinner held April 6 at Universal's Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, Florida, during the 26th annual ICMA EXPO.

"The quality and innovation of the cards being entered each year is very impressive," Barnhart said.

In the global arena of world-class cards, the ICMA Élan Awards for Card Manufacturing Excellence celebrates the pinnacle of design innovation, security, and technical achievements in the industry by leading manufacturers from around the globe. Winners of this prestigious competition tap the power of industry recognition and promotional
opportunity.

For more than a quarter century, the ICMA EXPO has served as a fusion meeting place for industry professionals to connect, network and discuss changing technologies, developments and products. ICMA honors its members' worldclass achievements in both card design and technology innovation through its Élan Awards.

After Barnhart announced each respective winner, ICMA board president Keith Yeates, of Bristol ID Technologies, presented the individual awards to each honoree.

The 2016 winners and finalists include:

Best Supplier/Vendor New Product, Service or Innovation:
First Finalist: Austria Card GmbH for its DaVinci Designer
Second Finalist: Schreiner Group GmbH for its PIN Safe
Winner: Otto Kuennecke GmbH for the Magic Cube
Best Personalization & Fulfillment (P&F) Product, Service or Project:
First Finalist: Bristol ID Technologies for its Utica Comets Season Pass Second
Finalist: Argo Card for the Pack with Christmas Gift Card Piotr i Paweł
Winner: Goldpac Limited for its 2016 My Starbucks Rewards City Card Series

MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The first category is Loyalty, Promotional and Gift Cards:
First Finalist: Travel Tags Inc. for the Cabela's Shooting Clay Lenticular Card, manufactured for Cabela's
Second Finalist: Travel Tags for the Starbucks Special Edition Kona Heritage Card, manufactured for Starbucks Coffee
Company
Winner: CompoSecure LLC for the Starbucks Crystal Card, manufactured for Starbucks
The second category is ID and Access Control Cards:
First Finalist: ABnote for the Illinois Medical Cannabis ID Program, manufactured for CITI
Second Finalist: Canadian Bank Note for the Wisconsin Identification Card, manufactured for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, (Division of Motor Vehicles)
Winner: Canadian Bank Note for the Canadian Permanent Resident Card, manufactured for Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
Unique Innovation:
First Finalist: Signature Card for the Tractor Supply – Life Out Here Card, manufactured for Tractor Supply Company
Second Finalist: CompoSecure and Goldpac Limited for the SPD Collar, manufactured for Goldpac/SPD
Winner: G&D (China) Information Technologies Co. Ltd. for the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Personalized Cards
Dream Card, manufactured for Shanghai Pudong Development Bank
Best Secure Payment Card, final manufacturing category:
First Finalist: Valid USA for the Victoria's Secret – Pink Angel Forever, manufactured for Alliance Data Systems Second
Finalist: BioSmart Co. Ltd for the Royal Blue 1000 Card, manufactured for WOORI Card
Winner: Goldpac Limited for CMB Full Currency Credit Card, manufactured for China Merchants Bank Credit Card Center
The People's Choice Award, based on the ballots as casted by ICMA EXPO delegates:
First Finalist: Austria Card GmbH for the Aurum Card, manufactured for Paylife Austria & Philoro Second
Finalist: Valid USA for the Chase - Star Wars Darth Card, manufactured for Chase
Winner: Giesecke & Devrient for the United Mileage Plus Explorer Business Card, manufactured for Chase

The judging criteria for the winners are based on three categories: card manufacturing, personalization and fulfillment
and suppliers. The judges included ICMA Standards Representative David Tushie, of Magellan Consulting; Brian
Summerhayes, managing director of Barnes International; and Thomas Decker, of SMARTRAC.

Last week, ICMA released its 2015 Global Card Market and Personalization and Fulfillment Statistics Reports — a source
of valuable card industry data generated from primary and secondary research and statistical modeling created by Al
Vrancart, ICMA founder emeritus and industry advisor. Additionally he served as moderator for the judging of this year's
award entries.

The global card industry continues to provide growth opportunities," Vrancart said. The report determined that the card
industry brought in $26.5 billion in revenues equating to the production of 35.1 billion cards in 2015. "

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.