Entries Closing Soon for the Innovation Awards 2026 at London Packaging Week
The deadline for the London Packaging Week Innovation Awards 2026 is fast approaching: entries close on Friday 24 April, 2026. This is the last chance for brands, designers, manufacturers and packaging innovators to put their work forward for one of the industry’s most respected and commercially influential awards programmes.
The Innovation Awards sit at the heart of London Packaging Week, recognising packaging that delivers on both creativity and performance, from structural ingenuity and technical execution to sustainability credentials and real-world commercial impact.
Entries are assessed by a 22-strong judging panel of senior industry leaders spanning luxury, beauty, drinks and FMCG, with decision-makers from organisations including Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Glenmorangie in premium drinks; Starbucks, Carlsberg Britvic, Marks & Spencer and Kingfisher plc across FMCG and retail; and leading beauty, personal care and prestige fragrance brands such as Burberry (fragrance and luxury), Boots, Trinny London and PZ Cussons.
Alongside these brand voices, the panel also includes perspectives from organisations such as the British Beauty Council and the Food and Drink Federation, bringing together a breadth of expertise across brand strategy, retail, category development and sustainability leadership.
Collectively, this reflects the realities shaping packaging today. This ranges from global brand identity systems and scalable drinks innovation to circular packaging models, regulatory pressure, and the ongoing drive to reduce environmental impact while enhancing consumer experience.
From prestige advent calendars and illuminated bottle caps, to refillable skincare and paper-based chilled food packs, these entries are evidence of the bold thinking across every sector that seeks to elevate packaging beyond function into a medium for storytelling, sensory experience and positive environmental impact.
As Christelle Anya, Content & Community Director for London Packaging Week, notes: “These awards are about recognising packaging that goes beyond aesthetics. We are looking for work that pushes innovation forward, strengthens consumer engagement, advances technical capability and demonstrates clear commercial value. Impact is essential.”
The 2026 Innovation Awards span 23 categories across Premium & Luxury Packaging, Personal Care & Beauty, Drinks, Food, Consumer & Homeware, and Sustainability, capturing the full spectrum of innovation across the global packaging industry.
From mass-market solutions to luxury limited editions, and from material breakthroughs to circular design systems, the Awards exist to spotlight work that is actively shaping what packaging must become.
Finalists and winners will be announced at London Packaging Week on 16 & 17 September 2026 at Excel London, where the global packaging community will gather to celebrate the ideas defining the next era of the industry.
Winning entries will be showcased in front of thousands of brand owners, designers, manufacturers and decision-makers, offering a rare platform for visibility, credibility and industry influence at scale.
Daniel Goodwin, Senior Packaging Technologist at Superdrug, said: “As entries come in, cost will remain a defining factor. Packaging today has to balance visual appeal, sustainability and commercial viability, and that is not easy to achieve. There is often a search for a single solution that delivers everything, but in reality, brands are still navigating trade-offs.
“What stands out is clarity of intent. Whether it is a highly efficient, sustainable format or something more expressive that leans into reuse or long-term value, the strongest work will be clear in what it is trying to achieve and deliver it convincingly.”
Carla Rae, Senior Procurement Manager at PZ Cussons, said: “For me, it is about a pack you want to reach out and touch,” she says, pointing to the subtle role of finishes, tactile varnishes and structural design cues. “The most interesting work often plays with expectation, making something that looks lightweight feel substantial, or something visually solid feel surprisingly easy to handle. That tension between perception and reality is where great packaging design really stands out.”