GOLD WINNER Kumiko Michishita, Monash University, Vic

The Southern Cross Awards are a national packaging competition aimed at tertiary students studying design at Universities, TAFE's and Private Colleges. Such awards offer students a unique opportunity to showcase their skills in an arena that closely mirrors industry. That's why are so they are so important and why Avery Dennison decided to sponsor a category.

In 2007, 30 institutes throughout Australia supported the awards and students submitted over 350 entries. The Packaging Council of Australia worked closely with both sponsors and judges to ensure that all the briefs focused on giving students "real life" problems to solve.

SILVER WINNER Michelle Jade Raimondo, Monash University, Vic.

As a sponsoring company, Avery Dennison provided a brief that gave students the chance to use their creativity to design an innovative solution that met certain defined criteria. Entrants had the freedom to go beyond the boundaries, create a concept, and then sell their idea through their rationale.

Avery Dennison challenged students to create a "Label and Reclosure for a Fast Moving Consumer Goods Product". Judges were looking for a food packaging label with strong visual appeal and an innovative reclosure function, as entrants competed for the three prizes in this category.

BRONZE WINNER Elly Bolitho, Holmesglen Institute of TAFE, Vic.

Kumiko Michishita of Monash University, Victoria was the Gold Winner of the Avery Dennison Materials Award. In her entry entitled "Cocka Tea", Kumiko designed a label and reclosure for tea packets. Her design had immediate visual appeal, with it use of bright coloured labels and the "catchy" brand name. The simple reclosure function was successful because it was so easy for the consumer to use and was very much suited to the product, which is so widely consumed around the world.

"Growing applications through innovation is the primary way the self adhesive label industry has, and will, continue to grow." says Darren Milligan, Marketing Director for Avery Dennison Australia and New Zealand. "The strength of last years submissions reinforced the potential for new packaging concepts incorporating label reclosure solutions."