Our 2015 Student Design Winner is Jose Navarro! Jose is a student from the University of Technology Sydney. 
The 14th annual Cormack Innovation Awards night was held on 5 November 2015.
Tom Gleeson, Comedian, gave the audience lots to laugh about. The crowd roared from the many, very honest, accounts he gave. Don’t ask him to take your photo twice!
The First Place design winner, Jose Navarro from the University of Technology Sydney, was selected for the award because of his innovative concept “Tug and Serve”, a measured dose dispenser to suit both dry dog food and rice products. The 2015 Design Brief “Packaging for Dual Markets” asked students to submit one packaging design concept that could be used in two different market sectors. Jose’s enthusiasm on receiving the award ended the formalities of the evening on a high. Jose was awarded $2,500 in prize money together with a 2 month paid internship at TricorBraun. His exuberance and energy will make for a great Internship program for the young designer.
UTS where therefore awarded the Perpetual Trophy for the 8th time in 14 years. A magnificent achievement. Special mention must be made of the course lecturers Anton Nemme, Gonzalo Portas and Paul Bingham for their support and dedication to the Cormack program. All lecturers gave great feedback on the added value a commercial brief and experiences such as these give to their students and greatly assist their development as designers.
This years’ judging panel consisted of Satyen Desai from Selleys, Todd Beck from Colgate and Brent du Preez from the Australian Institute of Packaging. The panel spent a full day scoring each design before unanimously deciding on the winners.
Second Placewas awarded to William Tangfrom the University of Technology Sydney, with his “Mezuri Lid System” design and Third Place was awardedAdrian Apalakis from Western Sydney University, with his “Clever Cap” design.
Highly Commended Awards were also presented to Alexander Ghent from the University of New South Wales for his “Multi-Measure Cap” design, Jacob Baxter from the University of Technology Sydney for his “Echopak” design, and Matthew Doylefrom the University of Western Sydney for his “Grippy All Round” design.
Matthew Doyle was also the recipient of the Australian Packaging Covenant’s Sustainability Award presented by their General Manager, Vanio Calgaro.
The night was a great success and enjoyed by all who attended. Representatives from many major organisations including Coke-a-Cola, Parmalat, Johnson & Johnson, Blackmores, Colgate, Selleys and many more who attend year on year are testament to what a fabulous program this is.
For more information go to www.cormackia.com.au.
Alexander Ghent, Adrian Apalakis, William Tang, Jose Navarro, Mathew Cormack, Jacob Baxter, Matthew Doyle