"It means more than you realise it will to win it," said Real Digital managing director David Laybourne, adding, "I came in to 131 very smiley faces this morning!

"It really makes a big difference and you can see how proud everyone is of what we've achieved. A lot of the staff have been here and shared our vision since day one and to have that justified is just tremendous for everyone involved."

Another big winner on the night was fellow Surrey-based firm D2 Printing, which picked up the gong for SME of the Year in front of a crowd including some of the biggest names in the industry.

"We like to think we go out there and punch above our weight, but it's great to have the industry recognise our efforts and to be surrounded by tables from the big companies and win in front of them is fantastic," said joint managing director David Houghton.

"It's a fantastic piece of positive news - it's recognition of everything we've been striving towards for the last 15 years and it's a great award to win because everyone here genuinely deserves it."

Three companies took home more than one award, with Park Communications, Pureprint Group and Augustus Martin all securing impressive doubles, while Geoff Neal Litho continued its phenomenal run in the Direct Mail Printer of the Year award, a category it has now won in five out of the past six years.

The glittering event, which was hosted by top comedian Jimmy Carr, saw the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, packed with 1,000 industry luminaries, while the annual prize draw for The Printing Charity raised more than £6,000.

For the full run down of all 24 category winners and commendations visit the PrintWeek Awards channel by clicking here.