Entries for the 2024 Pro Carton Young Designers Award (PCYDA) and Pro  (PCSVA) are now open to find the next generation of cartonboard innovators.

Entries for the 2024 Pro Carton Young Designers Award (PCYDA) and Pro Carton Student Video Award (PCSVA) are officially open.  Helping to promote sustainable packaging innovation across Europe, the PCYDA and the PCSVA celebrate the up-and-coming talents across sustainable packaging design and filmmaking.  Both competitions, which are free to enter, encourage students to learn about the packaging industry, whilst simultaneously offering them the chance to enhance their creative skills.

Pro Carton Young Designers Award

The Pro Carton Young Designers Award continues to be a prestigious platform for talented, young designers to showcase their skills and make their mark in the sustainable packaging industry.  This award offers students the chance to pioneer and showcase their innovative ideas across three categories: Creative Cartonboard Packaging: Food & Drink, Creative Cartonboard Packaging: All Other and the Sustainability Award.  This competition provides students with the opportunity to gain learning experience outside the classroom, build networks, create job opportunities, and win exciting prizes.

The 2023 awards were given to UK-based student Nang Htwe Htwe Lwin, the designer of UrbanBITE, for the Creative Cartonboard Packaging: Food & Drink category, trio Maria Paula Monroy Vargas, Sarah Drauschke and Margo Rindle from the FH Münster – MSD Münster School of Design in Germany for the Creative Cartonboard Packaging: All Other, and Johannes Nyborg Heyning from Arkitektur – og designhøgskolen in Oslo took home the Sustainability Award for the design Tapout.

The Pro Carton Student Video Award

The Pro Carton Student Video Award invites young aspiring videographers to produce compelling videos that highlight the versatility, sustainability, and innovation of cartonboard packaging.  This award allows students to explain the benefits of cartonboard in everyday life in a unique and captivating way, with the best entries being congratulated with cash prizes.

2023’s winner of the Pro Carton Student Video Award 2023 was The PRO’s of Carton, filmed and edited by Jasmin Hein and Sofia Rohnefeld from Höhere Graphische Bundes- Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt in Austria.

Last year, the Pro Carton Young Designer’s Award received over 750 unique entries from 30 countries, whilst the Pro Carton Student Video Award acquired 33 entries from 17 countries.  On top of the monetary prize for the winning entry, all winners will be invited to the official awards ceremony, taking place on 19th September in Berlin, Germany, at the annual European Carton Makers Association (ECMA) Congress.  The ceremony will also feature the renowned European Carton Excellence Awards.

Winfried Muehling, Director of Marketing & Communications at Pro Carton commented,

“Both the Pro Carton Young Designers Award and the Pro Carton Student Video Award offer a fantastic opportunity for the future generation of packaging enthusiasts to showcase their talent and of course, the versatility of cartonboard.  We will further extend the learning opportunity to allow the students a professional sales pitch of their respective projects.  It is same time an opportunity for the industry to demonstrate exciting job opportunities for young graduates. We look forward to once again celebrating the creative and inspiring entries that are submitted for 2024.”

If you are interested in entering either Award, you can do so through this link