Winners announced for the first international sleeve label competition

The winners in the first AWA Sleeve Label Awards competition, organised by AWA Alexander Watson Associates, were announced as a highlight of the programme of the AWA International Sleeve Label Conference and Exhibition 2015 held in Miami, Florida.

Judged by a panel of experts – chairman Yolanda Simonsis, President & Editorial Director, YTC Media Inc., Dr. Séamus Lafferty, President, Accraply, Inc., Tom Hammer, Product manager North America, Flint Group Narrow Web, and Will Schretzman, vice president, Packaging, Verst Group Logistics – the competition presented a well-deserved opportunity to reward excellence in sleeve labeling and product decoration.

Best of show

CCL Label were triple winners. They were recognised for their production of Diageo’s Smirnoff Sours sleeve labels with the overall award for Best Sleeve Label 2015, as well as the category prize for Heat TD Shrink Sleeves. The judges described the Smirnoff labels as ‘innovative, exuding shelf appeal, and incorporating plenty of technology’ – a reflection of their creative use of cold foiling and holography to deliver real packaging sparkle.

CCL Label also took the award for the Stretch Sleeve Label category for labels for Gerolsteiner Linée Grapefruit and Blutorange awards, which the judges said evidenced ‘bright, vibrant, and vivid design’.

PepsiCo themselves submitted the entry which took the prize in the Roll-fed Shrink category – labels for Gatorade Thirst Quencher and Gatorade Frost Glacier Cherry, which the judges recognised as the first major commercialisation of RFS in the marketplace.

Finally, in the category covering Environmental Consideration, Sleever International took the prize for Coca-Cola Entreprise, France’s sleeve labels for Minute Maid Citronnade/Limon & Nada, which, according to the judges, met ‘every guideline identified by the Association of Plastics Recyclers (ATP) – a great environmental entry’.

Awards presentation

The Awards were presented by AWA president and CEO Corey Reardon. ‘Sleeve labeling,’ he said, ‘is a key labeling and product decoration technology today, and is recognized as such. With these awards we want to highlight and promote the best-practice technology and material suppliers, printers, and end users who are excelling in this fast-growing and important labeling format.’ He commented on the good response in terms of the entries received, across the value chain, and declared the 2016 competition open for entries.

Full details of the winners in the AWA Sleeve Label Awards 2015, and entry forms for the 2016 competition, are available via the AWA website.