The European Carton Excellence Awards, Europe’s most prestigious annual carton award scheme run by Pro Carton and the European Carton Makers Associations (ECMA), is now open for entry. Due to the high standard of entries in the past the organisers have completely restructured the competition so that they can reward even more great cartons than ever before.
This year, the awards will also separately recognise the most innovative packs made from both virgin fibre and recycled cartonboard to better reflect the market structure. Entries will simply be divided into ‘Food & Drink’ and ‘General Packaging’, with awards for the best examples on both types of material.
The coveted ‘Carton of the Year’ award will continue to be offered to the overall champion, regardless of category of product or substrate. There will also be special awards for the carton that best demonstrates a reduction in the use of non-sustainable materials – the Save the Planet Award, and for the most innovative carton or new material – the Innovation Award. As last year, there will also be the opportunity for the consumer to vote for their favourite to select the winner of the Public Award.
In addition to these awards, the judges will choose a further selection of packs that they also believe deserve recognition as either Platinum or Gold Award winners. These will honour the other outstanding cartons produced on recycled fibre and virgin cartonboard across the various market sectors, from everyday grocery items and pharmaceuticals to luxury goods.
The awards ceremony in Malta at the ECMA Congress on 19 September 2019 will also announce the winners of the student Young Designer Awards and for the first time a Professional Young Designer of the Year Award which will be given to a designer under the age of 30 that has created the most outstanding new pack or concept.
Executive director of Van Genechten Packaging, last year’s winner of the Carton of the Year, Frederic de Somer, said, “Getting the Carton of the Year award from our peers in the industry is wonderful recognition for the hard work and creativity of the whole team.”
Tony Hitchin, General Manager of Pro Carton, added, “The European Carton Excellence awards offer the perfect opportunity to showcase and reward the most innovative, creative and sustainable packaging design across the continent. Our judges never cease to be amazed by the sheer level of ingenuity that goes into each entry. As the use of cartonboard grows even more popular and the quality of entries continues to rise, it was obvious we needed to add extra awards to properly recognise the industry’s creativity and technical ability hence introducing our new Platinum and Gold Awards.”
The Awards are now open for entries and close on May 17, 2019. For further information on the awards and the criteria for entering, please visit www.procarton.com/awards/carton-excellence-award/2019/.
