NASCAR driver Steve Wallace dropped the green flag on the Avery Graphics Design 66 Challenge today.  Rusty Wallace Racing and Avery Graphics are challenging designers to create the winning wrap for Steve Wallace’s 5-Hour Energy No. 66 Toyota Camry race car.

The winning entry and its designer will meet the Rusty Wallace Racing drivers – Steve Wallace and Brendan Gaughan – and be on hand in the pit to see their design in action on the 5-Hour Energy No. 66 at the last NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Homestead, Florida on November 20, 2010.

“I want designers to Supercast my ride,” said Steve Wallace, currently ranked in the top 15 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. “I’m looking forward to seeing the creative designs that get submitted for No. 66, this is a unique contest that’s open to anyone.”

“The winning design will be digitally printed on Avery MPI 1005 Supercast film so the sky is the limit,” said Todd Hain, Marketing Communications Manager at Avery Dennison Graphics & Reflective Products Division (GRPD). “Supercast films are ultra-conformable and the print quality is optimized allowing the designs to be dramatic.”

Avery Dennison Graphics & Reflective Products Division joined forces with the Rusty Wallace Racing team for the 2010 Nationwide Series.  Both Wallace’s No. 66 and Gaughan’s No. 62 are being wrapped with Avery Graphics products for the 2010 season.

The design competition launched today and will run through August 13th. Each person can submit as many designs as they can create – the rules, prizes, templates and more are available at www.SupercastMyRide.com <http://www.supercastmyride.com/> . The layered Adobe Photoshop template can be downloaded and designs submitted as a JPG. Each design will be rendered as a 3D model and put in the gallery.

“5-Hour Energy is proud to sponsor Rusty Wallace Racing and the Avery Graphics Design 66 Challenge,” said Carl Sperber, Creative Director for 5-Hour Energy. “The Challenge is an exciting opportunity for designers to take on a high profile project that will be seen by millions of people.”

Avery MPI 1005 Supercast is available with Easy Apply RS™, Easy Apply™ and Gloss Opaque LTR technologies to provide faster and easier application and long-term removability.  Easy Apply air egress technology helps eliminate wrinkles and bubbles while Easy Apply RS provides repositionability and slideability, allowing the film to be moved easily before pressure is applied. These films are removable and don’t affect the paint on the car.

Avery Dennison is sponsoring six Mutoh “Hands-On” School of Wrap classes around the U.S. throughout 2010. Two of the classes will take place at the Graphics & Reflective Products Division in Mentor, Ohio. Justin Pate, a globally recognized graphic installer, will teach all of the wrap classes utilizing Avery MPI 1005 Easy Apply RS.

“The workshops are a reflection of the work ethic that I have relied on during my 14-year career installing graphics with the highest quality, durability and efficiency,” Pate says.  “My Universal Graphics Installation System (UGIS) is a fluid, easy-to-learn platform. It reduces mistakes and ensures quality which results in significantly lower install times.  This combination provides the installer with a decisive edge in today’s graphic installation field.”

Matt McDonald, Owner of Premier Wraps, based in Fonatan, Calif., sad: “I learned more in three days at MUTOH’s ‘Hands On’ School of Wrap than I have in the last year and half, trying to figure things out on my own. I’ve already put Justin’s techniques (UGIS) to use and it’s amazing how much easier and faster installations go. We wrapped a bass boat in 7 hours after taking the class. My way would have taken at least 15 hrs. Unreal.”

Pate’s workshops are one of a kind.

1. He teaches a clear, easy to understand system (UGIS) that works on any vehicle, with any material.

2. This system, along with other invaluable tips taught in the workshop, creates speed.  There is simply no other installer or workshop out there that fully understands speed wrapping and can clearly teach quality and efficiency like Justin Pate.

3. Participants receive not only training but support and vehicle wrapping tools to take home and get started.

Mutoh’s “Hands-On” School of Wrap 2010 Schedule: Sign up Now, Seating is limited!

For more information and to register please visit: http://www.mutohcarwraps.com/MutohSchoolofWrap.html

MACtac Graphic Products is accepting entries for ‘MACtac Worldwide Awards – 2008.’ Every two years, this program highlights high-impact visual communication projects produced with MACtac pressure sensitive materials.

The contest provides a unique source of information on trends in visual communication and also promotes pressure sensitive films for the benefit of the entire industry. Entries from all over the world showcase innovative applications for the sign industry.

“The first two editions of the program were extremely successful—we received approximately 900 entries in 2004 and 1,100 entries in 2006,” said Rick Moore, director of marketing, MACtac Graphic Products. “It’s a great opportunity for companies in, or related to, the sign industry to showcase their talent and creativity.”

One winning entry within each category will receive a $3,000 cash prize. In addition to category winners, first-, second- and third-place winners in each territory will also be awarded cash prizes. For the North America region, first-place winners will receive $1,500, second-place, $1,000 and third-place, $500.

Closing date for entries is January 31, 2008. Winners will be announced in March 2008.

Whether you create printed vehicle wraps, plotter-cut graphics and magnetic graphics, or apply pinstriping flair or create off-the-wall art cars, you’re invited to display your talents in the 2007 ST Vehicle Graphics contest.

Vehicle graphics have long been one of the most popular categories in the Commercial Sign Contest and, more recently, the International Sign Contest.

Due to their sustained popularity, ST has chosen to give vehicle graphics a spotlight of its own with this inaugural competition. To encompass the market’s broad spectrum, we’ve devised the following categories:

Hanpainted/Gilded
Pinstriped
Service Vehicles (produced for a business’ direct use)
Promotional Vehicles (marketing a product or service)
Transit Graphics (bus, subway, train, monorail)
Fleet Graphics (a campaign that decorates five or more vehicles)
Signshop Vehicles (produced for a shop’s own use)
Unique Vehicles (art cars, appliqués, other unconventional projects)

Deadline: September 14

Entry fee: On or before August 17: $25 one to three projects/$50 four or more
After August 17: $50 one to three projects/$100 four or more

The entry form will be accessible online at www.signweb.com/vehicle/contest through the deadline.

SGIA members are encouraged to get their entries in now for the Golden Image/André Schellenberg Awards competition before the September 21, 2007, deadline. Printer members get one free entry, with additional entries costing $20 each.The competition, celebrating the best work within the specialty imaging industry, covers almost every imaged item — no matter how complex it is. This year’s Golden Image/André Schellenberg contest features 40 product categories that are broken down into four subgroups by process:

• Four-color process
• Single or multi-color process
• Simulated or index process
• Digital print process

“SGIA members look forward to this competition, because they know it will get their employees more involved and give them the credit they deserve for outstanding work,” said SGIA President/CEO Michael Robertson.

The entire entry process can be done online at the SGIA.org, Keyword: Awards. SGIA members have until midnight September 21, 2007, deadline to enter. Print samples must arrive at the competition depository by October 12, 2007.

Entry samples will be judged by a panel of industry experts and showcased on site at SGIA ‘07 (Orlando, Florida; October 24-27, 2007). Visit the Expo Web site at SGIA.org. Keyword: SGIA07, for details and entry instructions.