Sleeve Label Competition Makes Debut

Published: May 20, 2015

Winners of the first AWA Alexander Watson & Assoc.'s Sleeve Label Award competition were the highlight of the organization's AWA Intl. Sleeve Label Conference and Exhibition 2015 held in Miami, FL, on April 29-30, 2015.

Corey Reardon, AWA president and CEO, provided some insight on the debut of the Sleeve Label Awards: "Sleeve labeling 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."

A healthy response to a call for award entries for this first-time effort resulted from across the value chain. Such positive response, said Reardon, leads AWA to the early official opening of the 2016 competition.

Judges included a panel of experts chaired by Yolanda Simonsis, president/editorial director of Paper, Film & Foil Converter (PFFC), a property of YTC Media; Dr. Séamus Lafferty, president of Accraply, Inc.; Tom Hammer, product manager North America, of Flint Group Narrow Web; and Will Schretzman, VP, Packaging, of Verst Group Logistics. Judge Tom Hammer of Flint Group Narrow Web observed about his duties participating as a judge: "It was particularly interesting to see digital print advancing into the sleeve arena, and also to be able to review the added-value effects of holography, foils, and other real eyecatchers."

Best of show

CCL Label (a triple winner in this competition) is recognized for its 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. Judges' impressions: "This entry is a 'sexy' label, it is innovative, exudes shelf appeal, and incorporates plenty of technology. We were particularly impressed with the cold foil, holographic aspects, which were tactile."

Award attendee/recipient Dan Webb with CCL Label comments: "It's great to see the industry recognize, with these awards, all the innovation that's made sleeving a major player in the packaging world today. CCL has been working in the technology for years, and we're delighted that our customer Diageo allowed us to show just how much you can do with sleeves today. We're thrilled to have won."

Stretch Sleeve Label

CCL Label also took the award for the Stretch Sleeve Label category for labels for Gerolsteiner Linée Grapefruit and Blutorange. Judges' impressions: “They knew the limitations of this type of sleeve label and have made this work well. It demonstrates good execution with bright, vibrant and vivid design.”

 Roll-Fed MD Shrink Sleeve

PepsiCo directly submitted the competition entry which took the prize in the Roll-fed Shrink category for Gatorade Thirst Quencher and Gatorade Frost Glacier Cherry labels. Judges' impressions: “This entry earned recognition for its innovative ground-breaking nature in representing the first real commercialization of RFS in the marketplace.”

 Environmental

Finally, in the category covering Environmental Consideration, Sleever Intl. took the prize for Coca-Cola Enterprise, France’s sleeve labels for Minute Maid Citronnade/Limon & Nada. Judges' impressions: "This entry tells a great story, and it meets every guideline identified by the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR). Overall it's a great environmental entry and a fitting winner in this category.”

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