Press Releases

ICMA ANNOUNCES ÉLAN AWARD ENTRIES HAVE SURPASSED ALL PREVIOUS YEARS

—Entries for ICMA’s Annual Élan Awards Breaks Record Set in 2000—

PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ, September 27, 2006 — Recognizing the latest advancements and achievements in plastic card design, the International Card Manufacturers Association (ICMA) is proud to announce that this year’s entries surpass all previous records. The Élan winners will be unveiled at the awards ceremony to be held at the annual ICMA EXPO, in Athens, Greece on October 11, 2006.

Entries for the 2006 Élan awards have reached more than 80, breaking the record set in 2000. Categories for this year’s Élan awards include: Best Non-Secure Design, Best Secure Financial Design, Best Gift Card Design, Best ID Card Design, Technical Achievement and Best Vendor New Product, Equipment or Material.

“Since the Élan awards are only open to ICMA members this is a significant amount of entries,” said Jeffrey E. Barnhart, founder and executive director of ICMA. “The awards represent the vast pendulum of the card industry, with entrants from all continents.”

Judges of the Élan Awards were Freddi Yiap, CardsNow!Asia; Pietro Parmeggiani, CPPC; and Brad Paulson, Thor Engineering and ICMA standards representative. Entries are judged solely on the card itself since entries are not identified by company.

“I anticipate the judging process will be even more difficult this year due to the amount of entries,” states Brad Paulson, ICMA Representative and Élan Judge for 2005 and 2006. “As advancement in card manufacturing increases together with innovative designs, selecting a winner for each category is already a daunting task.”

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

###

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

About ICMA
Based in Princeton Junction, NJ, ICMA is a non-profit association comprised of plastic card manufacturers, personalizers and related industry participants. With more than 200 members globally, the ICMA acts as a clearinghouse for industry issues, including the production, technology, application, security and environmental issues of plastic cards. Visit the ICMA website at www.icma.com.

Editor’s Note: JPEG images are available upon request. Please contact Stacy Flint at 609-799-4900 or email: SFlint@icma.com.