Two Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) award winners from 2024, Don Deli Cuts (George Weston Foods) and Naked Rivals, have been shortlisted as finalists for three WorldStar Packaging Special Awards.
Don Deli Cuts (George Weston Foods) is a finalist in two separate award categories 1. Accessible Packaging Design special award and 2. the Save Food Packaging Design special award and Naked Rivals is also shortlisted as a finalist in the Save Food Packaging special award.
The 2025 Save Food Packaging Design Special WorldStar Award Finalists are: George Weston Foods for DON Smallgoods Don Deli Cuts from Australia & New Zealand, Smurfit Westrock for Safe and Green Punnets from Spain and Naked Rivals for Naked Rivals – Convenience with a Conscience from Australia & New Zealand.
The 2025 Accessible Packaging Design Special WorldStar Award Finalists are: Alfelder Kunststoffwerke Herm. Meyer GmbH for ALKOseal™ pierce ‘n’ peel™ ‘Easy to open’ induction sealing liner for rigid packaging from Germany, George Weston Foods for DON Smallgoods Don Deli Cuts from Australia and New Zealand and Miguel Anton for Spin Jug from Spain.
The winners of the WorldStar Special Awards will be announced live on the 30th of May at the 2025 WorldStar Packaging Awards that will be held alongside of I-Pack Ima tradeshow, Milan, Italy. Celebrating with Don Deli Cuts and Naked Rivals will be a large delegation of Australian companies will be in attendance for the awards ceremony to collect their general category WorldStar Packaging awards. This is the fifth year in a row that the ANZ region has maintained a top five spot against some very tough competition from extremely large countries. ANZ PIDA Winners have been internationally recognised with 18x awards across 8 x categories including: Packaging Materials & Components, Food, Household, Health & Personal Care, E-Commerce, Labelling & Decoration, Non-Alcoholic Beverages and Transit.
Don Deli Cuts enveloped in innovation
DON has brought a new innovative and intuitive flow wrapped (envelope pack) with reseal functionality to Australia. The secondary seal and reseal functionality is secured on the reverse of the pack with a resealable label with clear instructions on how to open and close the pack for optimal freshness and removing the need to decant product into sealed containers or using secondary plastic for wrapping in the moisture and flavour.
When designing the pack and adhesive label there was consideration for the area to grip to open. Optimal grip area has been considered and the pack is easy to grip, control and manoeuvre between hands. The textured finish on the film provides friction for grip and opening. The opening does not require excess number of actions to open; does not cause pain or discomfort and there are no sharp edges or awkward hand movements. No tools are required to open the pack.
The pack has been designed to make it obvious where and how to open the pack. The aqua blue sash across the top of the pack with a picture of the back of pack aims to direct consumers to turn over for opening. Once turned over, the label has a four-step process with legible and easy to understand opening instructions with images for opening and resealing the product.
The colours and print have been used for high contrast. Font is large and images support the directions to assist the consumer. The expiry on the back of pack is black against a transparent film for visibility.
This innovative packaging solution delivers on providing consumers with a convenient easy open/easy close pack that is compact, provides product visibility, minimises the mess of liquid in the pack, is more sustainable but does not compromise food quality and freshness.
The reseal functionality preserves food freshness, sealing in moisture and flavour, thus reducing wastage due to dry, spoiled product. The packaging enables consumers to retain product in its original packaging for fridge storage, thus product information such as use by dates are visible to consumers. It also prevents wasteful double packaging through use of cling wrap and therefore reduces packaging disposal and of course minimises food waste in the household through its innovative design features.
Naked Rivals created to save imperfect fruit
Naked Rivals are on a mission to save imperfect fruit and also end food waste at home, providing consumers with convenient food options that don’t compromise their need for great tasting, healthy ingredients that are sustainably packaged.
Naked Rivals provide consumers with access to frozen 100% fresh lemon and 100% lime juice cubes. In each pack, consumers receive the juice from 6 lemons or limes, conveniently portioned into cubes – with each cube equal to the juice from half a lemon or lime. The product has a shelf life of 2.5 years, extending the shelf life of the fruit and the product reduces the amount of citrus waste being disposed of in landfill.
Naked Rivals ensures that any fruit damaged in unforeseen weather events can be saved and consumed through the new product range. The new and unique product ensures that consumers, and also food service professionals, do not over purchase the ingredient and that it is always on hand. Naked Rivals also reduces reliance on importing the ingredients of juices out of season, which lowers the overall environmental impact of the product.
The world-first product offers single serve, portion controlled, Naked Rivals are taking imperfect fruit and making pure juice cubes precision volumes of liquid. The juice is sealed and frozen immediately once it has been filled in the bespoke 100% sustainable packaging which includes an rPET tray and a kerbside recyclable cardboard outer. The printing on the outer uses ink from vegetable oil extract. The packaging is unique with the easy-peel film and tray allowing consumers to pop out cubes with ease.
The bespoke recyclable rPET tray with tamper proof features is a unique sustainable packaging for juice. This product uses only Australian fruit, so producers receive a good price for their imperfect fruit and their produce doesn’t end up in landfill.
Naked Rivals was born from a simple idea: that even the most natural of ingredients can still be improved with a dash of ingenuity. Their mission is to fight food waste at home, promoting healthier lifestyles in a more sustainable way. Naked Rivals saves imperfect fruit from being wasted and reduces the environmental impact of 600 million lemons and limes being thrown into landfill. Citrus is just the beginning for the Naked Rivals brand, and they plan to execute other ingredients such as stock, herbs in the future. There is no other product like this globally, so they have created a new food category focussed on health, sustainability, convenience at an affordable price.
The 2025 WorldStar Packaging Award general category winners for Australia and New Zealand
Packaging Materials & Components
- Woolworths Pad-free rPET Meat Trays with ‘Leave Attached’ Film for kerbside recycling (Pact Group, Woolworths, Hilton Foods & Cleanaway)
- IMH PET Integrally Moulded Handle (Integrated Plastics)
- Home Compostable Container range (BioPak)
Food
- Naked Rivals
- Costa Group Premium Grapes paper bag (Costa Group & The Packaging Hippie)
- Don Deli Cuts (George Weston Foods)
- Cryovac Flexprep Portion Dispensing Pouches for McDonald`s Australia (Sealed Air)
- Masterfoods Squeezy rPET sauce bottles (Mars Foods & Wellman Packaging )
Household
- Green Action Dishwashing Liquid (Trendpac)
- Thankyou EzyPour + Refill (Caps & Closures)
Health & Personal Care
- Only Good Hand & Body Wash (Apex Brands) New Zealand
- Thankyou EzyPour + Refill (Caps & Closures)
- 100% Paper Packaging Film for Broc Shot (Close the Loop Group)
E-Commerce
- bouncee Reusable Insulating crates (ICEE Technology Group)
Labelling & Decoration
- The Art series and Indigenous art series BioCups (BioPak)
Non-Alcoholic Beverages
- Thermocup (Wellman Packaging)
- IMH PET Integrally Moulded Handle (Integrated Plastics)
Transit
- bouncee Reusable Insulating crates (ICEE Technology Group)
Only winners from the Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) awards across Australia and New Zealand are exclusively eligible to enter the prestigious WorldStar Packaging Awards each year. Winners of the 2025 Australasian Packaging Innovation & Design (PIDA) Awards were announced on the 6th of May, during the 2025 Australasian Packaging Conference in Sydney, and will be eligible to enter the WorldStar Packaging Awards in 2026.