Page 3 - Packaging News magazine July-August 2022

July – August 2022 | www.packagingnews.com.au COMMENT | MANAGING EDITOR 3
Winning ways
WINNING isn’t everything, right? That’s what we’re told from early in our lives when we’re encouraged to participate, to give something a go, to conquer fears of failure by stepping up to ‘just do it’ – to borrow a tagline from Nike. But I think winning is everything. It’s how you define what winning is to you – and that may not be first place on the podium, it may just be qualifying to be in the run- ning – that determines your measure of success in competitions, in busi- ness, in all walks of life. And however you define it, having that yen to win is what moves us forward.
Why all this talk of victory and con- quests? Well, it’s awards season in our industry, and over the last few months I have been involved in various capac- ities across several awards programs as judge, commentator and observer – most recently as co-host, with AIP executive director Nerida Kelton, of the Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design Awards (PIDAs).
Immersion in these programmes has led me to ponder why awards
are important for our industry. Three reasons come to mind: inspiration; recognition; resilience. When we showcase the creative smarts of our industry’s packaging technologists and designers to their peers, their cus- tomers, and their critics, we achieve all three in one go. Let’s take the PIDA 2022 Sustainable Packaging Design Award (see page 22) as a case in point.
This category, reflecting the issue that is topping the design brief from every brand owner, attracted a record number of entries. Attendees were shown a video illustrating the depth of thought, creativity and technical prowess behind the winning designs – inspirational for anyone involved in this field.
Naming the winners gave due rec- ognition to months and sometimes years of work, involving outstand- ing individuals and teams of people, collaborating with brand owners and even across competitive lines at times, to achieve the most sustainable outcome they could, given product parameters and available technology and materials. And, arguably, there has never been a more pressing time to inspire a call to action, and to rec- ognise the good work being done as we strive to meet our 2025 National Packaging Targets. These winners now qualify to enter the WorldStar Awards – where ANZ is already punching above its weight – with the prospect of global recognition ahead.
And then there’s resilience. Not everyone walked off with an award. But here was the true winner of the day in my book – a finalist in several categories who went home empty- handed. During the ceremony he sat alongside the recipient of several gold awards, but was able to sincerely experience Freudenfreude, and told me afterwards that his company would continue to innovate and enter the awards, because it’s the right thing to do by their teams, their customers and the industry. Now that’s the sort of winning attitude that will propel our industry forwards. ■
Lindy Hughson
Managing Editor & Publisher
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Why are awards important for our industry? Three reasons come to mind: inspiration; recognition; resilience.”