It was a night to remember for the large contingent of Australia’s packaging professionals who gathered at a gala dinner in Sydney on 16 August to witness the annual PIDA awards presentation, recognising companies and individuals who have excelled in their respective fields. PKN was there.
Excitement was in the air at the packed Grand Ballroom of the Shangri-La hotel in Sydney, with 220 guests eagerly awaiting the start of the awards presentation. (More images in the gallery above, and in the next print issue of PKN.)
AIP President John Bigley gave a warm welcome to what he called the 'Packaging Olympics' for Australasia, and likened Australia and New Zealand's combined success in the Olympic medal tally to the region's success in the Worldstar Awards, where for the last three consecutive years we have placed in the top three countries for number of awards.
Then it was time for co-emcees Sally Williams, Choice for Life founder, and Zaidee Jackson, national BDM Sustainable Packaging at Ball & Doggett, to get the show started, sharing the key features of the winning packaging solutions and providing lively repartee with the winners as they came on stage.
A highlight of the evening was an entertaining display by 'unusualist' Raymond Crowe, who made a jacket sway to his rhythm as lithely as a ballroom dancer, gave participants Shannon Doherty and Malcolm Davies new voices with his ventriloquist skills, and taught the audience a captivating shadow puppet routine.
The now well-established Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) awards, coordinated by the AIP, are also the exclusive feeder programme for Australia and New Zealand for the prestigious WorldStar Packaging Awards run by the World Packaging Organisation.
All 2024 PIDA winners will be automatically eligible for entry into the 2025 WorldStar Packaging Awards competition.
In this year’s competition there were six company awards, four special awards, and five individual award categories.
For full results of each category, click on the links below:
Company Awards:
Health, Beauty & Wellness Packaging Design
Domestic & Household Packaging Design
Special Awards:
Accessible & Inclusive Packaging Design
Individual Awards:
AIP Distinguished Service Award
Packaging Technologist of the year
Industry Packaging Professional
ABA Scholarships – Diploma in Packaging Technology + Certificate in Packaging
