IN Brief:
- London Packaging Week’s 2025 awards cycle drew more than 120 entries and produced 80 finalists across 13 categories.
- Food and FMCG examples in the finalist field show sustainability, functionality, and premium presentation moving together rather than separately.
- The 2026 awards cycle is now open, with entries closing on 24 April and winners due to be announced in September.
London Packaging Week has released its first Innovation Awards Finalist Report, using the 2025 finalist field to map the design and technical themes shaping packaging development across food, consumer goods, drinks, and luxury products. For food packaging in particular, the report points to a market where environmental performance, structural design, and shelf impact are increasingly being treated as part of the same development brief.
The 2025 awards drew more than 120 entries, with 80 finalists shortlisted across 13 categories. In the food segment, the field included projects such as Flora Food Group’s paper packaging for chilled spreads, Lola’s Cupcakes’ Easy Carry Box, Pilgrim’s Europe and Sainsbury’s PaperSeal Shape packs for breaded chicken products, and work for brands including Spudos, The Jolly Hog, and Cadbury Sharing Tablets. Hotel Chocolat’s Extra-Thick Easter Egg took the Food Packaging category.
Several themes recur across the report. One is the shift from straightforward material substitution towards higher-performance sustainable formats, particularly fibre-based and paper-led structures expected to deliver barrier strength, functionality, and visual impact together. Another is the growing weight given to convenience features, with carry formats, refillability, and interactive elements treated as part of product value rather than packaging add-ons.
The report also points to the continued spread of premium presentation into everyday categories, while seasonal and gifting formats continue to drive structural creativity. Entries for the 2026 Innovation Awards are now open, with submissions closing on 24 April 2026 and winners due to be announced during London Packaging Week in September. The pattern running through the finalists is a familiar one: packaging projects are now being judged less as isolated material choices and more as complete performance systems.
