North American Paperboard Packaging Competition

Entry Guidelines and Rules

Judged by a jury of packaging professionals, industry experts, professors, and magazine publishers, the North American Paperboard Packaging Competition is the premier competition for carton manufacturers involved in the concept, design, print, performance, and shelf appeal of paperboard packaging. Entries come from both major corporations and small, family-owned box shops and all are weighted evenly, with the names of manufacturers unknown to the jury. 

To be eligible to enter the competition, each entry must be submitted by a PPC member and converted in their facility. Unless it is a  self-promotional piece, each entry must have been produced and sold by a PPC member for the first time between June 1, 2012 and May 1, 2013. The packages must be designed to distribute, market, and protect a product and must consist of at least 50% paperboard that is visible to  the end user. (Laminated grades made with E-flute, F-flute, and other micro-flute corrugated qualify.) In addition, each entry must not have been submitted into a previous NAPPC competition.

Jury Tips on How to Win (.wmv)

Three Categories of Awards
In addition to awards in the General category, there are also many awards given each year in Innovation and Ecology. The Innovation category recognizes new and exciting package designs, designs that solve a problem in a unique way, meet or exceed market demands, and/or take advantage of the benefits of paperboard packaging. The Eco category recognizes efforts to design packaging that is renewable, reusable, and/or recyclable. It also honors designs that address social responsibility, reduce materials and energy, and protect and preserve the product in an ecological fashion.

Each Entrant Receives…

• Awards Programs: This glossy, full-color program features photos and information on each winning entry and is distributed to all entrants, PPC members, and package design students, as well as conference and trade show attendees. This booklet is not only a great sales tool for showing the breadth of eco-friendly and innovative design options inherent in paperboard packaging but also provides an opportunity to promote the awards your creative team has won.
• Awards Flier: Impress clients with the breadth of your award-winning achievements by hanging framed fliers featuring a stunning photo of each winning package in your company’s conference room—or just make copies and include them in your sales materials. Each winning entry receives both a print and digital, high-resolution flier of each winning entry.
• Awards Video: Clips from the video played at the awards ceremony (and posted on the PPC website and Facebook page) are made available to top award winners. The video can be posted on your website or provided on DVD to your clients as yet another promotional piece.
• Entry Photographs: Each entrant also receives on CD a number of high-resolution professional photographs of each package entry. These photos are copyright free, so they can be used any way you choose: displayed on your website, printed in collateral material, or provided to the press with your award announcements!
• Award Acceptance Photographs: All winners who attend the awards ceremony at the PPC Fall Meeting are professionally photographed accepting their trophy or plaque. The photo is then emailed to winners a few weeks after the ceremony. Hang framed photos in your conference room, post the photos on your website, or mail them out with a press release to gain both local and national recognition for your well-deserved honors.
  

Ongoing Industry Recognition
Just prior to the awards ceremony every year at the PPC Fall Meeting, PPC distributes press releases to over 25 trade publications that feature detailed information on each winning entry. Articles on competition award winners appear in these magazines and on their websites throughout the year and editors often use the photos and information in other articles on paperboard packaging.

Additionally, the top entries are regularly placed on display at nationally recognized trade shows such as Pack Expo, giving executives and salespeople from outside the paperboard packaging industry a chance to see the creativity and ingenuity of your design staff and learn about the clear benefits of paperboard packaging.

The Judges

Richard Garber: Rich has been an industry leader for 39 years, 23 of which at Green Bay Packaging, Inc. as Vice President/General Manager of their folding carton division. He has also been a PPC committee chairman and board member and in 2009 was the first recipient of PPC’s Volunteer of the Year Award.

Wendy Vowell: Wendy has more than 25 years of experience in everything from design to project management for packaging and displays. She is currently director of project management at Ardent Displays and Packaging, a turnkey design and fulfillment organization.

Luis Lee: Starting as a package designer and then Director of Packaging at Hiram Walker & Sons in Canada, for the past 30 years, Luis has owned his own design firm, with clients such as Häagen-Dazs, Pillsbury, National Distillers, Unilever, and Friendly’s Ice Cream.

Richard DePaul: Dick has worked in both the converting and consumer product sides of the paperboard packaging industry and has consulted with many companies who purchase or produce paperboard packaging. During his 50-year career, he has designed packaging in virtually every end-use category and has helped develop a variety of packaging systems. He has also authored and illustrated both editions of PPC’s Ideas and Innovation Handbook.

Gary Miller: Gary is a retired packaging executive with over 40 years of experience in the industry and has held managerial positions in both the consumer package goods side of the business in procurement as well as in manufacturing, sales, and marketing. For the past five years he has also judged the Paperboard Packaging Alliance’s Student Design Challenge.

John Lyons III: As the former associate publisher of Package Design magazine, John brings the consumer/brand identity perspective to the ever-evolving packaging industry, especially as it relates to eco-friendly packaging.

Jim Peters: Jim has over 25 years in packaging. His most recent project was co-author of the book Creating Value Through Packaging, which demonstrates how packaging integrates into an overall business management strategy. Jim has been Executive Director of the Packaging Education Alliance and Director of Education for the Institute of Packaging Professionals (IoPP). He is also a writer, consultant, association manager, speaker, and packaging conference organizer.

Bill Wynkoop: Bill is the lead creative director for Excelsus Solutions, a Rochester, NY-based large-format digital printer. He is also a contributing writer to Package Design magazine and an adjunct professor in packaging at the Rochester Institute of Technology.