Sakurai USA Inc. Bags First Prize Gold at FESA Gold Leaf Awards 2026 for Excellence in Foil Stamping & Embossing
01 July 2026: In a LinkedIn post, John Wokurka, Director of Operations at Sakurai USA, Inc., recently shared that Sakurai took the First Prize Gold at the FESA Gold Leaf Awards 2026. The Principal of Kunal Enterprise, received the FSEA Gold Leaf Award for Excellence in Foil Stamping & Embossing in the category of “Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Calendar (Industry Supplier) for the “Sakurai ’26 Calendar.”
Sakurai, the global leader in screen printing technology offers a family of Maestro sheet-fed and web-fed cylinder screen presses designed for specialty finishing, embellishment, pressure sensitive, heat transfer and industrial printing applications, along with responsive customer support, service, parts and training.
The 33rd annual FSEA Gold Leaf Awards ceremony took place during the Foil & Specialty Effects Association’s Print Embellishment Conference at the Sheraton Music City Hotel, held from June 17-19, 2026. The three-day event, held in Nashville, TN, USA, was officially sold out with FSEA confirming that it has reached capacity for attendee seating and exhibit space in advance.
Sharing the positive news, FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson had made a statement on June 11th, affirming that “Current registrations show more than a 25% growth in overall attendance from our last Print Embellishment Conference, which took place two years ago in Dallas, Texas. The combination of continued growth within the print embellishment industry, the event location in Nashville, and what we believe is a very strong program on new technology and trends in the industry were all factors in the overwhelming response.”
The conference included an opening reception and Supplier Trade Fair, a full day of programming and a celebration of the 33rd annual FSEA Gold Leaf Awards. It featured educational programming, a Supplier Trade Fair, expert panels like “Stump the Techs”, and keynote presentations on sensory marketing and print legislation. The conference concluded with a behind-the-scenes plant tour of local FSEA member, BindTech, at its Nashville bookbinding and finishing operation.
The official FSEA Gold Leaf Awards Reception was held on the evening of Thursday, June 18th. The Gold Leaf Awards are a highly regarded competition in the graphic arts and finishing industry. Judged on design, execution and level of difficulty, the annual Gold Leaf Awards Competition consistently draws entries from around the world and is committed to gaining visibility throughout the graphic arts community at large.
From foil stamping and embossing to specialty coating, film laminating, laser cutting, die cutting, cold foil application, binding and more, the competition celebrates the quality, added value, shelf presence, security and brand recognition that these finishing processes lend to the printed sheet.
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