The winners of the competition, of which the judging had to be delayed due to Covid, were Sabrina Bento from Portugal and Bjarne Castelein from Belgium. The awards announcement immediately preceded the launch of the next edition, which will culminate in an award ceremony at Labelexpo Europe at the end of April 2022.

The FINAT #LABELicious competition (in short: #L) is developed to challenge young label and packaging designers and engineers across Europe and to connect with the next generation of talents for the European label industry. It is a response to one of the top priorities among companies in the European label industry: to attract next-generation talents in design, engineering, and product development. As the industry innovates, it is imperative that the search for young generation professionals with both traditional graphic skills and new digital skills remains active.

After its pan-European launch culminating at Labelexpo, FINAT planned to use the interim year 2020 to the next edition to reach out to schools and universities in selected countries to set up local projects. Despite Covid-related disruptions to education programmes, the association received encouraging responses.

The competition challenge presented to the next generation talents consisted of a new brand and product line of the fictional company HUMANDATE, an innovative startup offering sustainable consumer products for life improvement. The company is launching a new consumer brand called GENERGISE, focusing on the empowerment and wellness of fit, active and responsible senior consumers with a range of food and care products. In collaboration with FINAT’s emerging network of schools and local project partners, and via social media, talents were invited to translate the ambitious brief in label and packaging design.

The winners were Sabrina Bento from Portugal and Bjarne Castelein from Belgium.

Sabrina’s submission consisted of a very complete and detailed brand identity. The work demonstrates how much deep thinking is involved in great packaging design. Covering all elements of the briefing, the GENERGISE brand design is used as a solid basis that can be applied across a broad range of materials, packaging forms and product line extensions. The large choice of examples that Sabrina created, combines consistency and diversity, with a strong focus on sustainable packaging elements. It’s a pleasure to see the GENERGISE brand come to life with almost no limitations in application possibilities for labeling and packaging.

Bjarne’s submission excelled in its pure design qualities. This entry stood out in both the power of simplicity and the young approach for a senior audience. The developed brand identity radiates the energy of the GENERGISE brand, including a smart play of the brand name elements ‘Generation + Energise’.

At the same time, FINAT is announcing the upcoming pan European edition of the #LABELicious Competition, of which the winner(s) will be announced at the grand finale on 28 April 2022 during Labelexpo Europe in Brussels. Registrations and submissions are welcome between the 1st of December 2021 and 30th March 2022.

For more information about the competition and how to register visit www.labelicious.eu.