Springfield, Mass. – The Paperboard Packaging Council (PPC) has announced the top winners of its 75th annual North American Paperboard Packaging Competition. These five folding cartons and rigid boxes represent some of the best paperboard packaging manufactured by North American converters during the past year.

Paperboard Package of the Year
The Decemberists – I’ll Be Your Girl
Submitted by JohnsByrne
This boxset for The Decemberists’ latest album, I’ll Be Your Girl, truly sings. Inside the rigid slipcase is an intricate popup book that holds vinyl records. A unique structural element, the book has a mechanism that lifts the vinyl and bends the pages into a striking geometric pinwheel shape. To give fans an interactive experience, the design also incorporates hidden treasures and surprises like die cuts and popups, all of which were laser-cut and hand-glued. Impressive, ceremonial, and interactive, this boxset is a treasure to behold.

Folding Carton of the Year
Kellogg’s EXTRA Creations
Submitted by Graphic Packaging International
In a category dominated by traditional rectangular cereal boxes, the EXTRA Creations design makes a huge impact. The gable-top structure looks like nothing else in the cereal aisle. Graphically, an elegant black backdrop highlights a code color and appetizing photos of ingredients and cereal clusters. The only thing that isn’t “extra” about this design is its footprint, which is smaller and more stable than traditional cereal boxes.

Rigid Box of the Year
Taylor Box Company Holiday Mailer
Submitted by Taylor Box Company
Taylor Box’s 2017 holiday greeting to clients and stakeholders was a set of three nesting rigid boxes that allude to Matryoshka dolls. Celebrating diversity and inclusion, the graphics feature children of various ethnicities, genders, and body types engaging in wintertime activities. Inside the final box are 16 colorful crayons—a surprise gift for children and children at heart. Endearing and whimsical, this rigid package is both container and content.

Digital Application of the Year
The Rodeo Campaign
Submitted by WestRock
Featuring multiple rodeo-inspired images that wrap around the carton, this design captures the consumer’s eye from every angle. Not only was the rodeo campaign the largest job WestRock had ever printed digitally for a client in the United States, it also required innovative problem-solving. Prior to the project, high-quality digital printing on transfer-metallized board thicker than 12-point was unheard of. WestRock’s engineers and quality assurance managers made it happen on 24-point board—that’s no small feat.

Innovation Award
Green Dot Full Spectrum Extract Pen
Submitted by JohnsByrne
JohnsByrne’s “Certified, Patented Child-Resistant” design, this folding carton for cannabis vape cartridges features a unique locking mechanism. The two-piece structure has interlocking tabs that prevent the components from separating. To open the pack, one must press down on two pressure-release tabs and then slide the additional tab in the finger slot to reveal the insert. In addition to security, the carton offers consumer appeal with overall soft touch coating and spot gloss UV on the logo.

Visit PPC’s website to see all of the winning entries and learn more about the North American Paperboard Packaging Competition.