SPRINGFIELD, MA - Eight packaging professionals from around the country recently converged at PPC headquarters in Springfield, MA during the week of June 9-11, 2013 to select the winning entries at the Paperboard Packaging Council’s 70^th annual North American Paperboard Packaging Competition. Thirty-one member companies submitted a total of 114 entries. In determining the winners, the jury recognized various new trends among the entries that distinguished them from last year’s group.

A prevalent theme was the incorporation of interactive features. Tactile coatings, embossing and debossing, and scoring to give a package an unusual shape were all used to prompt consumers to take products into their hands while shopping. Some entries even mimicked the shape and design of the products they contained to encourage consumers to interact by offering a preview of the product.

Converters are also displaying state-of-the-art graphics in areas where they were not previously used. Meat, for instance, is generally packaged on a foam tray and sealed with cellophane. But one of the entries featured instead a paperboard box printed with attractive images of grilling meat. Rather than eyeing the less appetizing cut of raw meat through cellophane, the consumer is now being treated to an image of the delicious finished product.

The judges also remarked that registered embossing, UV coatings, and holograms are now being used with more finesse. While newer techniques such as these are often used in flashy or obtrusive ways at first, designers are now using subtle, more tasteful approaches.

“It’s evident that converters and designers have established a more refined collaboration,” noted Jim Peters, PPC competition judge and co-author of Creating Value Through Packaging. “When converters take the time to educate designers—and designers are willing to learn—we see much more sophisticated finished products. This increases paperboard’s competitive edge in a tremendous way.”

The winning entries will be on display and announced at PPC’s Fall Meeting and Leadership Conference on October 24, 2013, in Dallas, TX.

For more information on the competition, visit paperbox.org/CC.