Companies, institutions and individuals from Germany and abroad have until 31 May to register their products and prototypes for submission to the cross-material German Packaging Award. Oliver Berndt, Head of Events and Marketing at the German Packaging Award, explains why Europe’s largest packaging showcase is the perfect stage for innovations and shares some tips for entrants to bear in mind.
Oliver Berndt is convinced: “Innovations not only play a central role in shaping the future, they are also the competitive trump card and the most sustainable foundation for a company’s success. All these innovations get showcased on the big stage at the German Packaging Award, from seemingly small details to comprehensive new developments. We bring the solutions into the open and publicly celebrate the achievements of the makers,” says Berndt.
Impressive testimonials
Berndt lists the many and consistently positive testimonials that the dvi collected at the last awards ceremony. These range from “The award underlines our claim to be a technology and innovation leader” to “The competition offers us a great stage to be seen by our customers” and “We also see the award as great recognition for our team” to “We have put so much energy into developing our packaging and it is the crowning glory for us to now be honoured for our efforts” – and even, “Woohoo! We did it! So proud of our team, of the product and of the achievements of the last few years that have gone into the product.”
Selecting your category
Oliver Berndt has a few tips for participants: “Select the right category for your innovation. There are ten categories in all, including design, product presentation, sustainability, efficiency, digitalisation, logistics and packaging machines. Each category has fixed and transparent judging criteria, which our 26 jurors use to judge submissions at their two-day jury meeting. You can even submit your solutions in more than one category at the same time. If you are in any doubt, we will be happy to have a personal discussion with you to help you identify the most suitable category. If you want to know a little more about our jury members, their profiles are on our website with a brief portrait of each member. You can also view the evaluation criteria for the categories online.”
Registration and presentation
Berndt emphasises how important it is for entrants to register on the German Packaging Award website by 31 May 2024. “This gives participants plenty of time to have their teams collect and summarise all the information on the submitted solution without a last-minute scramble. Texts, images and videos can be added. We advise participants to keep the information as concise and to the point as possible. This explanation, together with the product itself, which can be posted to us, gives the jury the best opportunity to fully assess the solution and give it the attention it deserves,” explains Berndt.
Gold Awards and the award ceremony
The jury has the discretion to honour particularly outstanding and pioneering solutions from among the winning innovations with a coveted Gold Award. “The Gold Awards will be announced and presented at a festive awards ceremony at the FACHPACK trade fair. All winners will receive their certificate and trophy at this special industry event. So 24 September 2024 definitely needs to be a date to remember in your diary,” recommends Oliver Berndt. “We and our premium partners FACHPACK and IGEPA group as well as our partner for the machine technology category, Mitsubishi Electric, cordially invite you to join us.”
The dvi presents all information on the submission process on their websites verpackungspreis.de and packagingaward.de.