Rotocon flags 4th student wine label design competition

Rotocon has launched its fourth annual student wine label design competition in partnership with the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), with 57 students participating this year. The competition is open to undergraduate students in TUT’s Faculty of Arts and Design, Department of Visual Communication (Integrated Communication Design (ICD). 

SA Litho Label Printers will again collaborate with Rotocon by printing the winning label. Polyflex Premedia has joined the 2026 competition as an additional partner.

The theme of the competition this year is: ‘A new vintage of vision,’ which reflects a new generation of designers shaping the future of wine branding. Banie Stafford, owner of B Creative and Rotocon’s marketing agency (and a TUT alum), met with ICD students on February 23 at the university's dedicated arts campus in Pretoria to brief them on the competition. He was joined by Casey Ogilvie, art director at Find, a division of Polyflex; Clifford Roberts, owner of The Letterbox and Rotocon’s external journalist; and Dr Schalk van Staden, lecturer in ICD and the project coordinator for the department.

Stafford presented sessions introducing Rotocon, outlining printing processes, embellishment techniques and covering key wine label design considerations, including substrate selection, colour application, die-cutting and typography. The sessions concluded with a focus on understanding the target market. 

Ogilvie addressed the role of packaging design in influencing purchasing decisions, the impact of Artificial Intelligence on design and considerations in preparing final artwork for reproduction. Roberts provided background and insights on the Western Cape wine industry.

Joining Stafford on the judging panel on April 16 are Michael Aengenvoort, Rotocon group CEO; Dawrian Salies, general manager of SA Litho Label Printers; and Stuart Baylis, group operations manager of Polyflex. The awards ceremony will take place on April 17 at Irene Lodge.

The winning student will receive 30,000 ZAR and will also be recognized at the WineLand Media 30 Under 30 Awards on June 5. Rotocon is sponsoring the event for the seventh consecutive year.

'The ‘new vintage of vision’ theme is about celebrating fresh perspective,' said Stafford. 'Just as every harvest brings new character to a wine, every generation of designers brings new thinking to the industry. This competition creates a platform for bold ideas, refined craft and the future of wine branding.'