The Pentawards are annual packaging awards, presented every year since 2007. Participants include designers, design agencies, communication agencies, brands, packaging manufacturers and design students.
History
The Pentawards were created by Jean Jacques Evrard and Brigitte Evrard-Lauwereins, both with degrees in design. They created and directed a design agency which joined Carré Noir from 1994 to 1998 and subsequently the Desgrippes Gobé group. At the end of 2006, they left their agency in order to run Pentawards full-time. The purpose of Pentawards is to promote packaging design art globally. The head office of Pentawards is in Brussels, Belgium.
Registration and voting
Candidates must register on the awards' website and present their creations in detail from the last twelve months by providing standardized visuals. These creations are grouped into categories and presented to the twelve members of the Jury and its President. The jury's vote takes place without the identity of the participants being revealed. The packaging designs are judged in three ways: creativity/innovation – impact/branding/communication – quality of execution. In each category, the five packaging designs receiving the highest scores are "nominated". Participants are then asked to provide a physical sample of their nominated packaging. Upon seeing the packaging, the President of the Jury validates and confirms the nomination and prize level obtained: bronze, silver, gold, platinum or diamond.
Jury
The Jury is composed of thirteen personalities from the world of packaging design including designers or design agency directors and packaging design officials from large commercial brands. The president of the jury is Gérard Caron, founder of the Carré Noir agency and publisher of the Admirable Design. The judging process is supposed to take into account international sensitivities, cultures and markets. Their mandate runs for a maximum of four consecutive years and approximately one third of the jury is renewed every year. To become a member of the jury, candidates must have previously won a Gold, Platinum or Diamond Pentaward.
Awards
Five levels of awards are given: diamond, platinum, gold, silver, bronze. The diamond award is given to the packaging design which, across all categories, received the highest number of points. The platinum award goes in each of five major categories, to the packaging designs which received the most points in the given category. The gold, silver and bronze awards are given to the best packaging design in each sub-category. The trophies are representations of the Pentawards logo, a circle with a hollow pentagon in the center. They are manufactured with a zinc alloy and after being polished are plated. The "diamond" is a Swarovski crystal. The trophy was designed and engraved by Belgo-American artist Christian Heckscher.
Awards ceremony
Since 2008, the Pentawards have been awarded in a different city each year during a formal ceremony:
2007 and 2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012:
2013:
2014:
2015:
2016:
2017:
2018:
2019:
Diamond Pentaward winners
2007: Swinckels beer – Design Bridge agency – Grimaldi Forum
