Since 1956, the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) has hosted the annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition, celebrating the industry’s most groundbreaking innovations and advancements.
Recognized for issuing the most prestigious awards in the flexible packaging industry, the competition highlights the cutting-edge technologies, processes, and sustainable solutions that continue to redefine packaging. Its reputation is built on the exceptional quality of entries, a rigorous and impartial judging process, and extensive media coverage of the winners.
The competition features six categories: expanding the use of flexible packaging, technical innovation, printing, shelf impact, packaging excellence, and sustainability. Each category showcases the attributes that set flexible packaging apart as a premier packaging solution.
An independent panel of industry experts evaluates the entries. Gold and silver awards are presented in each category, with the Highest Achievement Award being bestowed upon the gold award winner that best exemplifies industry advancement.
The winners of the 2025 competition were unveiled at an awards ceremony during FPA’s Annual Meeting, which took place from March 5 to 7, 2025, at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Miami.
This year’s competition saw 67 package submissions, resulting in 226 entries, with some packages competing in multiple categories. In the end, 20 packages earned 34 achievement awards, recognizing excellence across the various categories noted earlier.
Recognized as one of the most prestigious awards in the field, the competition highlights the cutting-edge technologies, processes, and sustainable solutions that continue to redefine packaging. Its reputation is built on the exceptional quality of entries, a rigorous and impartial judging process, and extensive media coverage of the winners.
FPA congratulates the winners and thanks all of the companies that participated in the 69th Annual Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards Competition.
Special thanks are given to the 2025 competition judging panel: Bilge Altay, Ph.D., assistant professor of packaging and graphic media science at the College of Engineering Technology at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York; Chris Lyons, group president of Packaging Impressions magazine in Pennsylvania; and Scott Wilkins, founder and lead consultant of Scorcia Packaging Resources, LLC, in Texas.
The competition placed a strong emphasis on sustainability and advancements in printing technology.
“The entries provided an excellent representation of current trends and key drivers in flexible packaging, particularly in sustainability,” Wilkens says.
“Around 70% of the submissions were either entered into the sustainability category or demonstrated clear advantages of flexible packaging over alternative structures. The range of innovations was impressive, including store drop-off solutions, all-PE (polyethylene) structures, compostable films, and packaging incorporating post-consumer recycled content.”
Lyons reflects on some of the printing innovations.
“We saw outstanding examples of rotogravure, digital printing, and other advanced print production techniques,” he says.
“The market is fully leveraging the diverse range of printing technologies available. It’s exciting to examine each package and see how its print capabilities enhance shelf impact and deliver exceptional quality.”
Altay points out that the judges reviewed entries across conventional and digital printing technologies.
“We saw companies effectively utilizing flexography, gravure, and digital printing. Each process showcased its unique strengths,” she says.
“Flexo and gravure printing demonstrated exceptional color consistency and high-resolution graphics, particularly in high-volume applications. Meanwhile, digital printing stood out for its versatility in short-run production while maintaining impressive color quality comparable to long-run printing.”
Wilkens says he was somewhat surprised that the judges didn’t see more use of digital printing for variable printing, personalization, or its full range of capabilities.
“These applications are certainly present in the market today,” he explains.
“In the entries that did feature digital printing, it seemed converters primarily leveraged it for the cost advantages of short-run production.”
Reflecting on the competition as a whole, Altay offers advice for companies entering future competitions.
“The entries demonstrated a variety of approaches in presenting their work. Some provided comprehensive details, while others offered little to no context,” she says.
“Those with thorough explanations greatly enhanced the evaluation process, helping us understand the reasoning behind the designs. In contrast, entries lacking detail made it much more challenging to reach a fair conclusion.”
FPA published the “2025 The Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards & Innovation Showcase” to complement the competition, featuring the winning entries as well as all submissions.
The “Achievement Awards” section highlights the 20 award-winning packages, organized by award level: Highest Achievement, gold, and silver.
Meanwhile, the “Innovation Showcase” presents all competition entries alphabetically by package name.
For More Information
Visit flexpack.org/Achievement-Awards for more details on FPA’s competition and to download the “2025 The Flexible Packaging Achievement Awards & Innovation Showcase.”
For more information on FPA and the benefits of FPA membership, contact FPA at fpa@flexpack.org.
Dani Diehlmann is FPA vice president, communications.