PPC members are now invited to submit their best package designs to PPC’s 69th annual North American Paperboard Packaging Competition (NAPPC).

Administered and hosted by PPC and judged by a jury of packaging professionals, industry experts, professors, and magazine publishers, the NAPPC is the premier competition for carton manufacturers involved in the concept, design, print, performance, and shelf appeal of paperboard packaging.

To be eligible for the competition, each entry must be submitted by a PPC member and converted in their facility. Unless it is a self-promotional piece, each entry must have been produced and sold by a PPC member for the first time between June 1, 2011 and May 1, 2012.

The packages must be designed to distribute, market, and protect a product and must consist of at least 50% paperboard visible to the end user. (Laminated grades made from E-flute, F-flute, and other small flute paperboard qualifies.) In addition, each entry must not have been submitted into a previous NAPPC competition.

Packaging companies can compete in the General, Eco, and Innovation categories. All entries compete for the top Paperboard Package of the Year award. Other top awards include the Rigid Box of the Year, Folding Carton of the Year, the Innovation Award (which recognizes outstanding design based on processing and structural integrity), and the Eco Award (which celebrates sustainable uses of paperboard as an original or replacement substrate). Winners will be announced at PPC’s Outlook & Strategies Conference, October 17-19, 2012 in Las Vegas, NV.

Winners also receive national recognition via publication in the competition awards program; articles in multiple trade publications; recognition on PPC’s website and Facebook page; award fliers, plaques, and trophies; and other valuable promotion.

“Our annual carton competition is a great opportunity for members to exhibit the package design innovation they have been working on over the year,” says PPC President Ben Markens. “It is also an occasion where our members can celebrate the sustainability, ingenuity, originality, and utilitarianism inherent to the paperboard packaging industry.”

The early bird entry deadline is May 1 (and offers one FREE entry) while the regular entry deadline is June 1. The Call for Entries Guide, the official entry form, and competition details are available atwww.ppcnet.org/cc.