The Pentawards, the most prestigious worldwide competition exclusively devoted to packaging design, has announced that its hotly anticipated Gala Ceremony will be held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York on 6th September 2018. Returning to New York for the first time since 2011, The Pentawards Gala Ceremony will see winners pick up their awards at the iconic venue. Previous cities which have hosted the Gala include Monaco, Shanghai, Paris, Barcelona, Tokyo and London, highlighting the truly global reach of the competition.

Adam Ryan, Project Manager at The Pentawards, comments: “We are delighted that our 12th Gala ceremony will be held at the world-renowned Guggenheim Museum in New York. We have been to some phenomenal places with the awards, but none more so than this. Selecting the Guggenheim Museum as our venue signifies the growth we have experienced over the last few years, the sheer scale of the ambition we have for the Pentawards and, of course, their prestige. The Guggenheim Museum will provide the perfect stage to crown the very best designers in the world, and to put the global spotlight on packaging design.”

The 2017 Gala Ceremony welcomed over 300 attendees from the worldwide packaging design community, with 27 different countries represented on the night. Guests travelled from the USA, UK, Peru, Netherlands, South Korea, Belarus, Armenia, Sweden, Japan, Canada and Argentina to attend the event.

Each year, The Pentawards attracts packaging from around the world. This is then judged by an international jury of 12 highly respected designers, packaging design directors and marketing chiefs. Jury members this year include: Mark van Iterson, Global Head of Design at Heineken and Clem Halpin, Creative Director at Turner Duckworth. Entries are divided into five main award categories: Food, Beverages, Body, Luxury and Other Markets, which are then split into 55 sub-categories.

2017 was a ground-breaking year for The Pentawards seeing more entries than ever before, over 2,000, from five continents and 54 countries. The predictions are that this number will increase for 2018. Winners receive bronze, silver, gold and platinum Pentawards, whilst the ‘Best of the Show’ receives the unique Diamond Pentaward. Entry for The Pentawards 2018 opens on 5th February to 23rd March, with design agencies, brands, students and packaging producers already preparing their submissions, in a bid to be honoured at the Gala Ceremony in September.