News

Design students at Lahti Institute of Design in Finland have dominated the prizes in Stora Enso's 2008 Food Packaging Design Awards.

Hanna Päivinen won the first prize of €3,000 (£2,550) for her two-compartment tray, which has a perforated board lid that separates the pack into portions.

Päivinen's pack is suitable for ready meals and cold cuts.

The judges commended Päivinen for her innovative use of paperboard and the market potential of the pack.

Second prize of €1,500 went to Marika Luoto and Thomas Åkerfelt for their round carton, while third prize was awarded to Saana Hellsten and Elina Ahonen's take-away pack with its advanced closing and opening mechanism.

Tapio Vapaasalo, chairman of the judges and and professor at the University of Art and Design Helsinki,  praised the entrants for "combining the theme of the competition with the requirements of production, the specific characteristics of the material and the universal applicability of the solutions".

The competition included entrants from several countries and schools.

Vapaasalo said: "This sets an attractive challenge for other schools, most of which do not necessarily give such high priority to packaging design in their curricula."