CEO's Message
These are the goals - the guiding lights - of the three Awards conducted annually by the PCA.
The 2010 Awards are no exception.
Education is vital. Too often the packaging industry gets a bad press. Yet the industry has a solid record of economic, social or environmental achievement and, while improvements can always be made, we have no need to be on the defensive!
We need to actively involve ourselves in the public debate, particularly about environmental issues.
We need to explain the benefits that packaging delivers to the Australian community.
We also need to address the numerous environmental, technological and broader societal developments which are occurring and which have led to questioning of the benefits provided by packaging products themselves.
All three sets of Awards play an important educational role. The National Schools Packaging Design Challenge, for primary and secondary students, and the Southern Cross Packaging Design Awards, for tertiary students, are especially important in educating teachers and Australia’s youth – our leaders of the future – about the essential role that packaging plays in today’s world.
This year, more than 130 schools and 3,000 students participated in the Schools Challenge while 38 tertiary institutions and 560 students participated in the Southern Cross Awards. The feedback from all involved – teachers and lecturers as well as students - has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive.
2010 was also significant in that an important milestone was reached – it is the 25th year that we have conducted the Southern Cross Awards! These Awards have stood the test of time and have played a valuable role in fostering and encouraging young talent.
The PCA’s future educational role and initiatives will be considerably enhanced by the acquisition of the Donald Richardson Packaging Collection.
Donald Richardson, a retired art and design educator and writer living in South Australia, has most generously provided us with an extraordinary range of packaging items and memorabilia he has collected over the last half century - everything from postal packaging, toiletries, gifts, bottles, closures, biscuit and cigarette tins to voting boxes.
He collected the packaging items as teaching aids and also as he was attracted to their beauty and the technical skills involved in their construction.
This was an opportunity too good to miss. Properly and professionally established, it can become an integral part of our educational program. It will be a living example of just how far packaging has come over the last half a century. And it will be a great museum for packaging professionals and aficionados.
Innovation is essential. In a fast moving world, companies are always challenged to respond to changing community and social attitudes, the increasingly demanding requirements of consumers and the need to comply with standards imposed by government and their supply chain partners.
Innovation is one of the keys to meeting these challenges. Companies need to invest in product changing innovation. They need to recruit – and actively support – high calibre graduates and people who reflect the diversity of the Australian society.
This year’s Australian Packaging Awards, for industry, demonstrate that packaging innovation is alive and well and is delivering benefits to customers, consumers and the broader Australian community.
An encouraging feature is that the innovations are broadly based and are being adopted by small, medium and large businesses across a wide variety of packaging types and materials.
Our hope is that all three sets of Awards will lead to a better and broader understanding about packaging and will, in a modest way, encourage others - students, teachers and those in industry - to emulate the success of those who did well in 2010.
The continued success of these Awards is a tribute to all involved – participating and sponsoring companies, Universities, TAFE’s, Private Colleges and schools, teachers, lecturers and students as well as the staff at the PCA. And not forgetting the Judges of all three sets of Awards who contribute their time, effort and expertise in the difficult task of fairly and accurately judging all the entries.
Gavin Williams
Chief Executive Officer