Reach for the stars

The Starpack Industry Awards 2011, the 52-year old internationally recognised scheme that celebrates excellence in packaging design and technology, is now open for entry.

Starpack is the UK packaging industry's most prestigious and long-standing award scheme. The awards, run by The Packaging Society - part of the Institute of Materials, aim to help raise packaging standards in the UK by rewarding and encouraging creativity.  Whatever the packaging there is a category for its inclusion. But, most importantly there is a category exclusively for Alcoholic Beverages, which is sponsored by The Drinks Report.

Starpack is open to the whole packaging community, so a pack can be entered by the product or packaging manufacturer, converter, supplier, processor, packer/filler, brand owner, end user, packaging designer or marketer. Entries are welcomed from companies worldwide, as long as the packaging has at least one of the following connections with the UK – researched, manufactured, sold, filled or designed. It is also necessary to seek permission to enter from the product or brand owner. All packs must be in commercial production and relatively new to the market (i.e. from January 2010 onwards) and not have previously won a Starpack Award.

The organising committee wants to provide as many opportunities as possible for examples of good packaging to be recognised and has, therefore, taken on board comments and suggestions from the packaging community. The aim is to ensure the categories are clearly described, are relevant to today’s market, and each award is understood and, therefore, valued not just by the packaging business but by brand owners, retailers and end users.

Gold, Silver and Bronze awards will be presented in each of the following ten categories (full descriptions and details can be found at www.starpack.uk.co). Most relevant for alcoholic beverage products are the following:

• Luxury, Promotional and Giftware
• Alcoholic Beverages
• Environment
• Graphic, Design, Print and Decoration
• Retail Ready Packaging
• Consumer Distribution Packaging (Business 2 Consumer)

The judges will be looking for innovation, and at the pack’s environmental considerations as well its design aspects, both ergonomic and aesthetic. But, of course, the most important aspect of any pack is that it fulfils its purpose – to preserve, promote and protect, the three Ps of packaging.

WorldStars
All winners of a Starpack Award are eligible for entry into the WorldStar Awards, which recognise the very highest standards in international packaging excellence. To enter these awards, a pack must have won a packaging award in a recognised national competition, such as Starpack in the UK. For further information on Starpack or WorldStar Awards email rachel.brooks@iom3.org or visit www.iom3.org/content/starpack-industry-awards or www.worldstar.org.

• Read the report on the alcoholic beverage winners in 2010

1 March 2011 - Felicity Murray