Disaster shelter and desk tidy clinch awards

The creative School of Art & Design students were named winners at the Student Starpack Awards 2009 held in London.

Joanne Richards, 27, from Bushbury, Wolverhampton, won the British Polythene Industries Sponsor Award for her disaster aid shelter pack. Students were asked to create a pack incorporating four essential products for survival. Joanne’s design includes an outer pack which folds out into a tent containing packs of water purifying tablets, a collapsible light weight water bottle, wind and waterproof matches and a pen-knife. The design was described as “exceptionally high quality” by the judges.

Also celebrating was 20-year-old Laura Busby, from Cannock, who created a studio and desk tidy pack from corrugated board, which could also be converted to a storage tidy. The ‘Storitz’ idea won the DS Smith Packaging Sponsor Award, and was praised for being fun to assemble and meeting the marketing criteria.

Also commended at the awards was David Healey, 49, from Dudley, who entered his design ‘Hex Quest’ in the new board game pack category.

All three students are in the second year of a BA (Hons) Graphic Communication. The Starpack awards are organised by IOP: The Packaging Society, a division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and IOM Communications Ltd, and are open to students in the UK and overseas.

Julia Chidley, Senior Lecturer, Graphic Communications, said: “This is excellent recognition for our course and the work of our three students who were inspired by the Starpack briefs and used quality research, analysis and thorough development to produce very viable creative packaging solutions.”

Overall judge and Nestle’s senior designer, Ben Mortimer, said: “Starpack is doing something quite unique by combining graphic and structural packaging design.”

Further information

Picture: Laura Busby with her desk tidy design

Notes to editors

Student Starpack Awards

IOP: The Packaging Society offers the Student Starpack Awards for potential professional designers. Entrants must be part time or full time students at a college of art, college or university in the UK or overseas. In the past the awards have led directly to a number of employment opportunities for successful entrants.

For a full list of winners, visit www.starpack.uk.com/students

For media inquiries, contact Vickie Woodward in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736 or 07973 335112.