2024 Starpack Students Awards Ceremony
2024 Starpack Students Competition winners were announced at the awards ceremony held at The Royal College of Surgeons of England in London.
The Starpack Students Competition is designed to encourage the move towards a more circular economy through innovative design and packaging practices. Effective packaging design involves consumer experience, recycling and reprocessing, to retain as much of the material resource as possible.
The 2024 Starpack Students Awards ceremony was held on 19 June at The View at The Royal College of Surgeons of England, London, where we were joined by the shortlisted entrants.
The event was chaired by Jude Allan MIMMM MInstPkg(Dip), IOM3 Packaging Group Chair who hosted a roundtable discussion on Designing for the whole of life before the awards ceremony kicked off.
The speakers, discussed design, functionality of the packaging, and how it might come to be recycled and reprocessed. The panel comprised:
- Linh Kooc, Design Director, WestRock
- Tom Whatling, Senior Business Development Manager, WestRock
- Dr Robert Fell, Consultant, Metal Packaging Manufacturers Association (MPMA)
- Darren Wingrove, Project Manager, Logoplaste Innovation Lab UK
- Paldeep Bhatti, Director of Research & Policy, INCPEN
Each of the winners from the six briefs showcased superior quality entries that successfully met the criteria and showcased creative excellence.
Linh Kooc from WestRock, who was part of the judging panel says, 'The really great thing about the Starpack Students Competition is that you pull in sponsors from all sorts of industries ... from the metal industry, and from even the consulting industry. It helps open up to how students view packaging. By participating in it, we get a lot of interesting ideas and perspectives from the students. We also want to make sure that the next generation of packaging designers have a way to connect with professionals".
Mackenzie Carrington from Nottingham Trent University recounted his experience, "Starpack Students is a geat way to introduce yourself to the world of design. It's really useful for the students because it develops your skills not only in packaging, materials, carboard, etc., but also graphic and design skills. I'e learnt a lot about sustainability and what materials can be used sustainably and it will help me design for a more sustainable future in my career."
A special thank you to our sponsors:
- Suntory
- Logoplaste
- MPMA
- WestRock
- Smurfit Kappa
- IOM3 Packaging Group
- INCPEN
We are grateful to all participants and judges for making this event possible.
The briefs for next year's Starpack Students Competition are now published on the website and entries will be invited in September.