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SPECIAL REPORT

And the Award Goes To . . .
WCMA’s Product Innovation Award winners.

The Window Covering Manufacturers Association (WCMA) in February announced the winners of its 2007 Product Innovation Awards (see D&WC, March 2007, page 24). A panel of five judges from the interior design community selected 30 award winners from among the 88 entries received.

Products were judged within the following categories: Alternative Shading Products, Cellular Shades, Drapery Hardware, Horizontal Blinds, Motorization, Pleated and Roller Shades, Shutters, Specialty Applications, Vertical Blinds, Wood Blinds and Shadings (Wood/Faux Wood), and Merchandising. In each category, the jury judged entries for Best New Technical Innovation, Best New Style Concept and Most Innovative Overall Design.

This year’s Product of the Year designation was given to Hunter Douglas for its Modern Precious Metals® Reveal™ with MagnaView™.

TESTAMENT TO INDUSTRY’S STRENGTH
“This year’s impressive list of entries is a testament to the strength of our dynamic industry,” said Ralph Vasami, WCMA executive director. “We congratulate all of the manufacturers who earned this prestigious award and who continue to raise the bar for innovative design.”

The industry judges this year included Susan Hirsh, senior merchandiser, Benjamin Moore; Susan Huckvale Arann, interior design consultant, American and International Designs; Alan Holland; senior buyer, JCPenney; Leonard Mozer, window fashions editor, LDB Interior Textiles; and Jo-Anne Pier, retail merchandising editor, Home Magazine and Metropolitan Home Magazine.

The 2007 winners are to be honored at a reception this monrth at The International Window Coverings Expo (IWCE) in Washington, DC.

HIGHLIGHT SERVICES, PRODUCTS
For the past 17 years, WCMA’s Product Innovation Awards Program has bestowed more than 375 awards. A call for submissions for judging usually goes out late in the year with an end of January deadline for entries (see D&WC, January 2007, page 12). All manufacturers and suppliers of window coverings products in the United States and Canada are eligible for award consideration. Companies are honored for their design creativity, technical advancement and overall innovation during the year. The awards help to highlight the important services and products the industry provides.

Organized in the 1950s as the Venetian Blind Council, the Window Covering Manufacturers Association represents the interests of the window coverings industry manufacturers, fabricators and assemblers. WCMA has three membership categories: Manufacturers,Fabricators and Associates. For more information, visit www.wcmanet.org.