Food Gold: Ryco Packaging (Omaha, NE) won for the custom glass bottles shaped like a tomato and a jalapeno pepper for the Kennedy Gourmet Co., Kilgore, TX. The company sought containers that would protect the gourmet product and display the product well as a hostess gift. The heavy glass containers stand up and they're closed with a cork for nostalgia. The cork is covered by a wax seal, and a hanger tag that serves as the label. Silver: Richards Packaging (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) won for the intricate "Christmas basquets" it provided to Le Farfadet, St. Dorothe, Laval, Quebec, Canada. These creative holiday gift packs of preserves and sauces are all glass jars topped with a red cloth held in place by holly, bells and other Christmas items. Bronze: Tri-Valley Growers Cooperative, Modesto, CA, sought special packaging for its high-quality Private Reserve Sliced Peaches. Olshen's Bottle Supply (Portland, OR) developed the "home canning look" mason jars to show off the product and to tap into the nostalgia of home preservation. Research showed that glass is viewed as a sophisticated package that's related to purity and freshness. Drug & Pharmaceutical Gold: Two packages in one were needed for Viatrocide, the Ultimate Spill Kit from Viatro Corp., Cleveland, OH. From Kaufman Container, (Cleveland, OH) this multifunctional kit is used for body fluid spills in clinics and hospitals. The Virosorb is a bottle inside the handled scoop that dispenses a chemical that causes the fluid spill to gel. Once the gel is picked up with the scoop, the container also holds a spray bottle of disinfectant to treat the area. Silver: Caliber Packaging, Inc. (Cerritos, CA) won for an unusual hinged bottle and carton used by CPI to gather drinking water samples for testing. Molded in a cleanroom-type facility with the closure being closed in the mold, the high-density polyethylene bottle is free of contamination. The hinged snap closure is air-tight and easy to use. The E-flute corrugated box is die cut to provide nests for the bottles. Bronze: Continental Glass & Plastic (Chicago, IL) won for Leib Research's Nik-Aid styptic product. The New York-based manufacturer wanted a masculine yet medicinal-looking package, and CG&P used a stock glass container with a plastic insert that gives it a rugged, metallic look. An insert and ball make the product easy to use, and the bullet-shaped cap is ribbed for easy opening. Pet & Vet Products Gold: W. Braun Co. (Chicago, IL) won for a line of containers for Aquarium Systems, Mentor, OH. The Reef Evolution line uses 8- and 16-oz round Weston bottles in a deep ultramarine blue to distinguish itself from the white cylinders normally used. Matching dispensing closures and colorful labels complete the presentation. Silver: Water bottles for pets from Cincinnati Container Co. (Cincinnati, OH) are a win-ner for L.M. Animal Farm, Pleasant Plain, OH. The high-density polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride Cool Sip bottles are all decorated by the distributor via six-color screen printing. Bronze: Rolf C. Hagen of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, wanted a special high-visibility package to show off its new line of Nutrience Marrowbone dog treats. Richards Packaging (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) offers a 32-oz Handi-Grip square jar of PVC with a ridged T-E screw cap for excellent shelf presentation. The empty container can also be reused, a big plus in the Canadian market. Household Chemicals Gold: Out-A-Sight is the name for P.R.H. Products' odor-eliminating product. The Savanna, IL, company selected an unusual combo from W. Braun Co. (Chicago, IL) that dispenses the product. A low-density polyethylene bottle allows the product to permeate the walls, releasing the chemical. It mixes with the air through the louvered construction of the outer clamshell of polypropylene. Silver: Israel Andler & Sons (Everett, MA) won for a versatile 3-oz bottle that's used by American Ink Jet, Billerica, MA, as an ink refill bottle. The low-density polyethylene bottle accepts a variety of caps or the manufacturer's exclusive injection needle. The bottle's versatility allows the packager to consolidate two refills in one bottle. Bronze: Bonide Products, Yorkville, NY, turned to All-Pak, Inc. (Bridgeville, PA) to design one container that could be used for two types of products. The Mosquito Beater handled bottle can be made of either high-density polyethylene or of Barex barrier material from BP Chemical (Cleveland, OH) to accommodate different Bonide product requirements. Two sets of neck rings were created with the same mold to account for differing levels of shrinkage between HDPE and Barex. Industrial & Automotive Gold: Master Builder Technologies, Beachwood, OH, not only wanted to pack two incompatible products in the same container, but the package had to be UN-compliant for hazardous materials shipping. North Pak Container (Streetsboro, OH) selected a 3.5-gal, 26-ga steel pail with a plastic cradle insert to hold 1 gal of one product away from the 2 gal of product in the bottom of the pail. To get the proper seal, a special cover and a cover closing tool had to be developed. Silver: North American Oil, Atlanta, turned to W. Braun Co. (Chicago, IL) when it experienced high returns from denting of its aluminum bottles for its Turbo 108 line. Polyvinyl chloride was found to be compatible with the automotive aftermarket chemicals. A long-neck design offered better accessibility to gas tanks. Bronze: Zuckerman-Honickman (King of Prussia, PA) won for a simple dispensing package for Gent-L-Kleen Products' Mac's Hand Cleaner. This low-density polyethylene tube/bottle is squeezable enough to dispense the viscous product through the wide-mouth flip-top dispensing cap. The flat tube top is hole-punched to permit pegboarding or hanging near the sink, says the York, PA, manufacturer. Novelties Gold: Zuckerman-Honickman (King of Prussia, PA) was a partner in the development of the Sweet Dreams musical baby bottle for Angel & Madeline Perez, Philadelphia. The distributor helped design and source the custom bottle, a cap on the bottom that holds a music chip and the hanging folding carton it's packed in. Z-H also screen prints the bottles. The carton allows a shopper to press the music button without removing the bottle from the package. Silver: Kaufman Container (Cleveland, OH) won for sourcing an injection-molded polystyrene locomotive for Bonne Bell's LipSmackers train promotion. The Westlake, OH-based cosmetics company wanted to duplicate an earlier package. A four-cavity mold met the requirements, and provided a package that could be used as a bank or an ornament. Bronze: Richards Packaging (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada) won for an unusual "brain" bottle that's designed to be inside the "Goosebumps" skull marketed by Hasbro. The packager is Sonic Packaging, Summit, NJ. The molding challenge was to show the convoluted surface of the "brain" while ejecting the part from the mold. Since the "brain" is an unstable bottle, a neck support was added so it could be filled and capped by Sonic.
