Finat names winners of #Labelicious competition

At the recent Labelexpo Europe, Finat has announced the winners of the #Labelicious contest in three categories: smart labels, design and sustainability. The competition’s goal is to attract next-generation talent in design, engineering and product development to the labelling industry.

L-R: Jules Lejeune (Managing Director of FINAT), Chris Ellison (FINAT President), Jeroen Diderich (Avery Dennison), Niels Hyde, Lucas Debock, Ferdinand Rüesch (Gallus), Alessia Guerra, and Christian Menegon (HP)

Alessia Guerra from Italy won the design category award, and Lucas Debock and Niels Hyde, both from Belgium, won the award in the category smart labels and the award for the sustainability category respectively. The jury underlined the innovative and open-minded approach of students in this competition and noticed how multiple entries combined both design and smart technology categories in one submission.

As the industry innovates, the need for young generation professionals with both traditional graphic skills and new digital skills is growing. According to the latest Finat’s Radar market report, respondents from the entire industry in European countries, place next workforce challenges in their top five priorities.

‘Attracting next-generation professionals is not something that will materialize without substantial efforts from all stakeholders, and of our sector as a whole,’ commented Chris Ellison, president of Finat.

The #Labelicious competition invited young engineers and designers in the broad field of packaging and brand management, to share their dreams about the future labels in 2025 in the categories: Smart labels, Design and Sustainability.

The competition, launched by Finat last year, at the occasion of the 60 anniversary of the European label association gathered registrations from nearly 100 young talents from 22 different countries in Europe. The three winners received their trophy and a financial prize and a full week of work experiences provided by the Platinum partners Avery Dennison, Gallus, and HP.