Entries are now open for Europe’s leading annual packaging competition for young talent. Pro Carton is encouraging students to perfect their cartonboard design skills over the coming months for their chance to win the Pro Carton Young Designers Award – an accolade that symbolises potential to excel in a career in the thriving packaging industry.
Since its launch in 2004, the Young Designers Award has promoted sustainable packaging innovation in Europe by tasking students with designing and creating their own solutions made from cartonboard. The competition has grown in popularity year after year, and 2021 is expected to be no different. Despite the global pandemic, the 2020 awards received a record-breaking number of entries with over 550 cartonboard designs being submitted from 25 different countries across the continent.
Students have a choice of four categories to enter: Creative Cartonboard – Food & Drink Packaging, Creative Cartonboard – General Packaging (excluding Food & Drink), Creative Cartonboard Ideas (non-packaging) and Save the Planet – ideas that replace less sustainable materials with cartonboard. A Newcomer’s Award is also available to students from a university that hasn’t previously won. Teachers are invited to make the Young Designers Award a course project to be completed during the academic year with Pro Carton providing complimentary cartonboard sheets for the students to use.
The five successful candidates will win a trip to Austria where they will not only see the beautiful sights of Vienna, but also get to visit one of Mayr-Melnhof’s mills and obtain practical training at Europe’s largest carton converter, Mayr-Melnhof Packaging. Last year’s winners included Fulfil, an innovative tampon pack, Zig Zag Zig carton for a knife, a Flour pack with built in sieve, as well as the Save the Planet winner, Cardboard Pads, which removes the need for plastic protection – such as bubble wrap – when shipping goods by using environmentally friendly cartonboard.
“The Young Designers Award helps educate the next generation of designers about cartonboard’s environmental benefits and adaptability. As a result, each year we see entries that apply cartonboard to never-seen-before scenarios and find solutions for challenges we witness today, which is why we’re very excited to see what designs are coming our way in 2021!”, said Tony Hitchin, General Manager of Pro Carton.
Competition details:
The competition is open to all European full-time students. Initially, entries should be submitted online before 21 May 2021.
Find the full brief and competition rules here: https://www.procarton.com/awards/pro-carton-young-designers-award/2021/
