FINAT, the association for self-adhesive labels and related products, has announced the entry and participation details of its annual international labeling competition and the provisional program of its Congress, which will take place in the Hilton Hotel in Athens, Greece from 6-9 June 2012. The organization has also revealed the winner of the Congress logo contest of this year’s edition.

The theme of this year’s Congress will be Sustainable Labeling – now is your chance! This year’s Congress will take a look at the various aspects associated with sustainability for the labeling industry. It will highlight the perspectives of a leading customer in the industry, demonstrate how to combine economy and ecology when designing packaging and labels, and allow the opportunity to share and discuss best practice with industry leaders and entrepreneurs in different areas of corporate sustainability. It will give participants a first hand opportunity to learn about the latest trends and developments affecting the European self-adhesive label industry. The full program will be released at a later date.

“In today’s developed society, businesses are increasingly embracing a corporate approach that goes beyond the single dimension of company profit,” says Kurt Walker, FINAT president. “Awareness is growing that short-term profit maximization cannot be achieved without taking into account a company’s corporate responsibility towards the environment, the community in which it is operating and the people it employs. ‘Sustainable entrepreneurship’ is aimed at maximizing ‘PPP Value’: People, Planet and Profit. In this concept, the scope of entrepreneurship is broadened from the ‘here and now’ to the ‘there and then’.”

FINAT converter members and other label printers that are not yet affiliated to FINAT and who have not yet entered their labels are encouraged to do so before the March 9 deadline. The FINAT label competition recognizes and rewards achievements in both end use/marketing impact and print and converting quality. The awards will be presented to the winners during FINAT’s Congress in Athens.

This year the competition is separating all wine labels from the mainstream categories irrespective of printing process used. This means that there are three drinks categories and one food category. This trial has been prompted because wine labels by their very nature are usually aesthetically pleasing and very decorative and the quality of design and printing quality has improved considerably over the years. The intention is to allow other end use categories to have a greater chance of winning an award. This principle has also been applied to the cosmetic entries where all cosmetic labels will be entered in the cosmetic category irrespective of printing process used allowing more scope for labels entered in the pharmaceutical and other related categories.

In recent years the FINAT awards competition has seen a considerable increase in the total number of entries with the figures hovering around the 300 mark with almost two thirds of the entries to be found in the Marketing/End Use Group.

In order to encourage the next generation of graphic designers, FINAT has for the past four years organized a Congress logo competition. Several colleges and universities from the host country Greece were invited to submit entries from their students on the theme ‘Sustainable Labeling – now is your chance’. More than 120 entries were received from 2 teaching establishments. The Vakalo Art & Design College and the Akto College both located in Athens.

The winner was Georgios Karanikas from the Vakalo Art and Design college. He produced a very simple one-color design depicting the meander, a design often seen round the walls of ancient Greek buildings. His idea was to show, in a stylized way, two hands interlinking and collaborating together illustrating the international, multi-cultural character of the FINAT Congress. The judges were impressed by the simplicity of design using only one color and the concept behind the design.

For more information, visit www.finat.com.