The annual New Jersey Packaging Executives Club (NJPEC) Awards recognizes the best packaging designs and innovations, and this year’s program saw an impressive number of submissions.  An elite panel of judges of top packaging executives from a broad spectrum of industries and brands as well as packaging students selected the winners in 10 different categories. 
 
To pay tribute to the winners, NJPEC will hold its 40th Annual Package of the Year (POY) Awards Gala on Thursday, November 29th at The Madison Hotel in Morristown, NJ. The Gala will include the awards presentation, a Tricky Tray and live music—and will display all the packaging that was submitted this year. Advanced registration is encouraged as the event will sell out.  Registration information can be found at www.njpec.com.
             
And the winners are:
 
The highest NJPEC honor for 2018 Package of the Year, will be presented to:
•          MAC x Jeremy Scott for MAC Cosmetics by MAC Cosmetics and HCT Packaging
 
The Students’ Choice Award will go to:
•          Match Stix for Fenty Beauty by HCT Packaging
 
Category winners for the top Gold Award include:
•          Color Cosmetics: MAC x Jeremy Scott for MAC Cosmetics by MAC Cosmetics and HCT Packaging
•          Food & Beverage: Godiva Goldmark for Godiva Chocolatier by McLean Packaging
•          Fragrance: In Full Bloom Fragrance for Kate Spade by Jansy Packaging
•          Gift Set:  Ariana Grande Prestige Fragrance for Luxe Brands by Encore International
•          Graphics: Woman by Ralph Lauren for Ralph Lauren by McLean Packaging
•          Health & Beauty:  Day/Dream Power Duo for Kwan Dermatology by SeaCliff Beauty Packaging and Laboratories
•          Household Industrial:  Village Candle 25th Anniversary for Village Candle by Allstate Paper Box
•          Personal Care:  Healthy Underarm Detox Mask for Lavanilla Laboratories LLC. by Quadpack
•          Pharmaceutical: Respimat Inspiration Kit for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals by Sunbelt Graphics
•          Promotional (tie):  Building Blocks Block Bin for Amloid/Kids@ Work by Printex Transparent Packaging, Inc. & Avon 12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar for New Avon by Color Optics a division of Phoenix Color
           
 
Judges of merit
The judges for the 40th Annual 2018 POY included: Leslie Artesona, Strivectin Packaging; Andrea Escobar, L’Oreal; Jay Gorga, Beauty Packaging; Alan Hafkin, Estee Lauder; Brian Henry, Revlon; Ali Mokhtari, packaging consultant; Gina Rokose, packaging professor; Scott Roman, Estee Lauder; Derek Schmidt, New Avon; George Toth, L’Oreal, Remon Zakhary, Bayer and student judges Julie Bradford, Chantel Hernandez, and Hilda Jara.    
           
“The judges were impressed with the diverse ingenuity and brand impact displayed in this year’s competition.  It is an honor to be celebrating packaging achievement for 40 years, and we look forward to an exciting and memorable night,” said Peter Gould, Committee Chair, of the NJPEC POY.
             
Reservations to attend the 40th Annual NJPEC Package of the Year Awards Gala can be found here:njpec.com/events-calendar.  For more information on the POY Awards, please contact: Peter Gould, pgould13@gmail.com or Karen Hadden-Wolf, khaddenwolf@coloroptics.com.  To donate to the Tricky Tray, which supports the NJPEC scholarship program contact Holly Benda, Holly@wwpinc.com.  For attendee bag donations contact Maureen Eustice, maeustice@aol.com.
 
 
PHOTO: NJPEC 2018 Package of the Year will be presented to MAC x Jeremy Scott for MAC Cosmetics by MAC Cosmetics and HCT Packaging. It's been a big year for MAC, which also won two Beauty ID awards at Cosmoprof NA. Read the story.