In the year that marks the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the world's first synthetic dye by William Henry Perkin, the Society launched the 2006 Perkin Innovation Award to honour an individual, company or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to colour in recent years.
The winner was announced at the Gala Awards Dinner, following on from the 2006 SDC Colour Conference in Belfast on 13 October.
The 2006 Perkin Innovation Award went to Dr Ram Sabnis CCol (USA) for the development of the world's first coloured bubbles.
The prize included a specially commissioned Perkin trophy, along with a cheque for £2500 to be spent on education and training in the field of colour.
The winning entry involves breakthrough colour-change technology that led to the creation of coloured bubbles whose colour disappears when exposed to air, water and pressure.
Dr Sabnis comments, 'I am extremely happy to have been declared the winner of the SDC Perkin Innovation Award for the synthesis of novel non-staining, environmentally-safe, colour-changing dyes which form coloured bubbles.'
'This technology demonstrates applications in many areas including entertainment, healthcare, consumer products, agriculture and security.'
The two other finalists in this competition were Dr Philip Double (Fujifilm Imaging Colorants Ltd, UK), for the development of black colorants for ink-jet printing, and Dr Hossein Izadan (Universityof Leeds, UK), for the development of a digital imaging method of colour fastness assessment using an optical scanner.
Comments Dr Ian Holme, chair of the judging panel, 'The level of entries, from both the UK and overseas, was very broad ranging.'
'It made judging extremely difficult, but in the end we were unanimous in deciding that the unique technology of the winning entry met all the criteria set for the competition.'
Society of Dyers and Colourists
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