Beverage can shrink-sleeve specialist Fast Track Packaging of Guelph, Ontario was the only Canadian company to earn an award at the recent 2020 AWA International Sleeve Label Awards competition. Fast Track won a Certificate of Merit for its heat-shrink TD Sleeves on cans of Impériale Choco Noisette Stout (right) – which cleverly and cost-effectively delivered a premium, tactile metallic finish without the use of metallic inks. The company’s expertise in the beverage labeling sector spans a huge range of special eye-catching, shrink-sleeve effects – including holography, metallic inks, matte finishes, tactile and embossed surface effects, colour-changing inks, scented inks and more. The company prints value-added labels that appeal to consumers’ senses of sight, touch and smell.
Announcing the winners during the AWAVirtual conference, Corey Reardon, President and CEO of AWA (Alexander Watson Associates), stressed the fact that these annual AWA-sponsored awards, now in their sixth year, continue to deliver “exceptional examples of what shrink-sleeve technology has achieved today.”
Entries were received and judged just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the announcement of the winners took place during the AWAVirtual International Sleeve Label Conference & Exhibition 2020 held online November 16 – 17. Judged by an international panel of industry experts, the awards recognize the industry’s outstanding achievements in stretch-sleeve and shrink-sleeve labeling and product decoration. The annual awards were open to printers and converters, as well as end users and brand owners.
All entries had to be commercial products, or offer a label design or innovative sleeve-labeling solution (in terms of technology/substrate/print method) for a commercial product manufacturer that’s not yet on the shelf. There is no cost (apart from postage) to enter the awards, and companies can enter as many sleeves for as many categories as they wish.
Judges also gave special consideration to what features in the printing process make an entry a remarkable example deserving of recognition. Also considered were the number of colours, graphic alignment at the seam, shrink execution onto the container, converting and seaming, and innovative features such as a foil or matte finishes, tactile features and other special effects – in addition, of course, to overall shelf appeal.
Congratulations to Fast Track Packaging and to all the U.S. winners.
Fast Track Packaging is lone Canadian winner at AWA International Sleeve Label Awards
