The Digital Labels & Packaging Awards have launched, with 10 categories available to celebrate excellence in digital print for packaging.

This is a brand-new awards programme, celebrating excellence in digital print for packaging. From labels and shrink sleeves, to pouches, folding cartons and corrugated boxes, these awards showcase what it takes to succeed with digital, and will honour the best work from printers and converters using digital technology to produce labels and packaging.

Entries are now open for the following 10 categories:

  • Excellence with inkjet – For entries printed using inkjet-based digital processes;
  • Excellence with toner – For entries printed using toner-based digital processes;
  • Excellence with hybrid printing – For entries printed using a combination of digital and analogue processes;
  • Excellence in finishing and embellishment – For entries that showcase the best use of finishing and embellishment to elevate digitally printed packaging;
  • Excellence in design – For entries showcasing work that has been designed specifically with digital printing in mind;
  • Excellence in sustainability – For digitally printed jobs that have exemplary environmental credentials;
  • Application excellence – secondary packaging – For entries showcasing the best secondary packaging printed digitally;
  • Application excellence – primary packaging – For entries showcasing the best primary packaging printed digitally;
  • Analogue-to-digital – For entries that were previously printed using conventional processes; and
  • Innovation – Entries showcasing new applications and end uses of digitally printed labels and packaging.

The 10 categories of the Digital Labels & Packaging Awards cover the gamut of digital production, whether you’re: designing cutting-edge labels and packaging with a digital-first mindset; printing primary or secondary labels and packaging using inkjet, toner or hybrid technology; converting and finishing reels and sheets into high-value saleable products; and/or striving to deliver the highest levels of environmental performance. A Supreme Award will also be presented to the shortlisted entry that scores highest with the judges.

Multiple categories may be entered, with three samples of the campaign being submitted required for each category.

The Digital Labels & Packaging Awards are brought to you by Whitmar Publications, the publisher of Digital Labels & Packaging, and the team behind the wildly successful FlexoTech Awards and Digital Printer Awards.

David Pittman, editor, Digital Labels & Packaging, said, ‘These awards are perfectly timed as the number of businesses now producing labels and packaging using digital continues to grow, and the quality of the work they are producing has now reached such a point that these printers and converters deserve their own, dedicated awards ceremony.

‘At the Digital Labels & Packaging Awards, we will showcase these companies and those jobs that demonstrate the utmost in excellence when it comes to printing and converting labels and packaging using digital.

‘I implore all those using digital, no matter where they are in the world, to download the entry form and submit their entries without delay. We look forward to receiving entries off printers and converters from Tooting to Timbuktu, Seattle to Seoul, which showcase what can be achieved using the power and potential of digital label and package printing.’

The entry form can be downloaded here, with the deadline for entries closing on 14 April, 2022. The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony held over lunch in London during June 2022. The date and venue are being finalised and will be communicated shortly.

Tables and tickets are available to book, via email to chloe.w@whitmar.co.uk, or calling +44(0)189277599.