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Ryerson University students win first place in packaging design challenge

A team of student designers from Toronto’s Ryerson University has won first place in the Paperboard Packaging Alliance (PPA)’s 2020 Student Design Challenge.

The PPA is a joint initiative of the American Forest & Paper Association and the Paperboard Packaging Council.

The annual competition is for university students in packaging design programs to show off their creative talent, design skills and innovative approaches to meet real-world customer needs and marketing scenarios.

A design team from the Rochester Institute of Technology took home second place, and a team from the Fashion Institute of Technology received third place. Honourable mention was given to an additional team from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Students were asked to design an innovative packaging toolkit for educators to use as part of the Trees into Cartons, Cartons into Trees (TICCIT) program, which engages third through fifth graders in an environmental and educational activity highlighting the renewability and sustainability of paper and paperboard packaging.

The first-place design will be put into production and adapted for use in the TICCIT program. Winning student teams and their academic programs received monetary awards – first place: $5,500 to the team/$5,000 to the school; second place: $3,300 to the team/$3,000 to the school; third place: $1,650 to the team/$1,500 to the school.

All submitted designs can be viewed on the PPA website.

“The Student Design Challenge is proof there is a vibrant and bright future ahead for an essential and sustainable industry, the paperboard packaging industry,” says Heidi Brock, AF&PA president and CEO.

“Teams of students not only solved a challenge, but they also overcame obstacles presented by COVID-19 this year. They used virtual collaboration and technology tools to develop impressive designs, demonstrating an ability to be more adaptable and resilient.”

See the full list of 2020 Student Design Challenge Winners

1st place: Ryerson University
Team: Dorotea Bajic and Laura Rendell-Dean
Advisors: Natalia Lumby and Jay Park

2nd place: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Team: Rachel Goldberg, Luke Hallick, Brianna Johnson, Allison Kunz, Jenna Robinson
Advisors: Carlos Diaz-Acosta, Lorrie Frear, Emily Barclay

3rd place: Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT)
Team: Valeria Bornacelli, Michelle Kim, Ashley Markiewicz, Margaret Seleznev
Advisors: Sandra Krasovec, Adam Straus

Honourable Mention: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)
Team: Daeya Shealy, Erica Boyd, Anna Schum-Houck, Sierra Babcock
Advisors: Carlos Diaz-Acosta, Lorrie Frear, Emily Barclay

The 2021 challenge is to design packaging for a hunger relief organization that enhances the recipients’ experience and can be used for storage.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 4, 2021.