UK Packaging Awards 2009: Welcome from the Editor

No one has had an easy 2009. But, as we begin to see the light at the end of this recession’s tunnel, it has never been more true to say that the best ideas are bred out of adversity.

This year’s record crop of almost 200 entries to the UK Packaging Awards, and their overall outstanding quality, is testament to this fact. It is no exaggeration to say in many categories our judges struggled to pick winners because two or three other entries could have been deserving recipients of an award.

A large part of this challenge was the fact that many of the entries posed questions about what we might traditionally expect of packaging.

To promote, protect and preserve are still the top priorities, of course. But our winners and finalists this year include packs that go far beyond that. Some can double up as beautiful toys. Others actively count down the days to when a product goes out of date. One carries dry ice, begging the question of whether it is packaging or simply a fridge. In reality, it’s both, but it illustrates the increasingly blurring line between packaging and a range of other goods.

None of this would be possible without strong businesses investing in the industry, innovation, the environment and in staff. This year’s winners of our awards for Company of the Year, Supplier of the Year, Environmental Company of the Year and Design Company of the Year show all these qualities in abundance.

As ever, I would like to thank everyone involved in making this year’s awards a success. First, our sponsors, whose support for the event is invaluable. Our judges, who kindly gave up their time to consider every single entry. And a mention must go to the team at Haymarket, especially event manager Melanie Sawbridge, who has worked tirelessly over the past year to organise every aspect of the Awards.

Most of all, thanks and congratulations to all our winners, finalists and entrants. If you didn’t win, better luck next year. And if you did, you have proven yourselves to be in the elite of UK packaging companies. Now go and tell the world.

Josh Brooks is editor of Packaging News

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