WASHINGTON – The Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA), a joint initiative between the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) and the Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC), announced the winners of its Eighth Annual Student Design Challenge on Monday, Oct. 29 at the Pack Expo convention in Chicago.

This year's Student Design Challenge tasked students with designing a functional and creative package for a quick-serve chain kids' meal and address how the plans could be altered to serve an additional purpose.

"The year's entries showcase the versatility of paper-based products," said AF&PA GroupVice President Cathy Foley.  "The students surpassed our expectations in terms of the breadth of the entries, and we hope that this exercise leaves them with a positive impression of how this medium can help accomplish design and marketing objectives."

"Paper-based packaging is an all-around good choice for consumer packaging today," said PPC President Ben Markens.  "It's a sustainable material that consumers can feel good about purchasing, and it's adaptable to a wide range of uses – from food to entertainment – as we see with this year's winners."

2012 PPA Student Design Challenge Winners

1st place: Rochester Institute of Technology
Team: Katherine Bukys
Professor: Bill Wynkoop                              

2nd place: Pratt Institute  
Team: Jiawei Feng & Heegyum Kim
Professor: Tom Delaney          

3rd place: Clemson University     
Team: Matthew Barber; Dan Zold & Kyle McMurphy
Professor: Andrew Hurley

Winners receive a cash prize to share among the team and one of equal value for the school.  First place receives $2000, second place receives $1500, and third place receives $1000.  Winners are chosen by a team of four paperboard packaging industry professionals who rate submissions based on their response to the competition scenario, innovative structural and graphic design, functionality, and quality of the finished product.

This year a record number of students from the U.S. and Canada participated in the Challenge. More than 200 students competed from 13 leading packaging & graphic design programs, including: California Polytechnic State University, the University of Cincinnati, Clemson University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Millersville University, Mohawk College, Michigan State University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Pratt Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology, Ryerson College, University of Wisconsin-Stout, and Virginia Tech.

For more information about the PPA Student Design Challenge, visit www.paperboardpackaging.org.