In July, the World Corrugated Awards (WCA) 2023 Ceremony, organised by Reed Exhibitions, was held at the Wyndham Hotel in Shanghai Hongqiao.

Since its inception in 2019, the WCA has selected the most pioneering designs, marketing, management, and social responsibility cases within the global corrugated industry.

The members of WCA 2023 jury included Peter van Ostaijen, secretary general of Corrugated Benelux Association, Varna Sudasna, chief packaging specialist of SCG Packaging, Hernán Braberman, partner and executive design director of Tridimage and other corrugated industry authorities.

The WCA received more than 150 case studies, from which 60 outstanding cases were shortlisted. After three stages of screening, online voting and scoring by a panel of judges, seven cases were awarded.

World Corrugated Awards 2023 winners

In the Innovation category, Design of the Year went to Virus Ren Guard Packaging, Material of the Year to Tongling Xingrui Intelligent Technology’s ultra-thin honeycomb panels, and Application of the Year was awarded to Tri-Wall (Asia) for its Optimpak product.

In the Corporate Management section, Best Risk Management of the Year was won by Thai Containers Group for its detection system to prevent fires in corrugated box plants. Intelligent Production of the year went to LD Intelligent Technology and Pacific Millennium Packaging Group was awarded with Business Transformation of the Year.

The Most Influential Cardboard Mill of the Year was won by Sichuan Yibin Global Shenzhou Packaging Technology.

The next WCA will be held in 2025 and all companies and individuals related to the corrugated industry are welcome to nominate cases.

According to GlobalData, business leaders are saying they expect to see higher demand for cardboard and corrugated materials over and above any other packaging type in 2023.

Earlier this year, the winners of the Excellence in Flexography Awards were also announced.