DIELINE Awards names 2026 packaging design winners

By AI, Created 10:24 AM UTC, May 20, 2026, /AGP/ – DIELINE announced its 2026 awards at LUXE PACK New York, honoring 170 winners across 41 categories as packaging brands leaned into plastic-free materials, refill systems and sustainability-focused design. Top honors went to OlssønBarbieri, Catalina Crunch, Honeysticks, Fussy and Wedge.

Why it matters: - The 2026 winners show where packaging design is heading: toward sustainability, circular systems and stronger brand storytelling. - The awards also spotlight how packaging design can affect consumer preference, sales performance and conservation efforts. - The competition’s scale underscores the category’s global reach, with more than 1,500 submissions from nearly 40 countries.

What happened: - DIELINE announced its 2026 DIELINE Awards winners at LUXE PACK New York. - The competition handed out trophies to 170 recipients across 41 categories and 15 overall top winners. - The awards are now in their 17th year. - DIELINE Awards is sponsored by Designalytics and presented by Luxe Pack.

The details: - OlssønBarbieri’s Varus 775 won Best of Show. - Varus 775 became the first spirits brand to take the top honor since 2019. - The design draws on the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. - The packaging uses a three-part system: a glass bottle, an aluminum refill and a ceremonial porcelain vessel. - The project combines Roman-inspired aesthetics, circular packaging and a sustainability focus. - The Designalytics Effectiveness Award went to Catalina Crunch for a redesign by the brand’s in-house team. - Designalytics bases the award on marketplace sales performance and quantitative consumer testing. - 65% of consumers preferred Catalina Crunch’s new packaging over the previous version. - New Zealand’s Honeysticks won Plastic-Free Innovation of the Year alongside the nonprofit A Plastic Planet. - Honeysticks’ 100% natural beeswax crayons come in plastic-free craft paper packs with vegetable-based inks and biodegradable labels. - Editor’s Choice went to Beta Design Office for Fussy, a personal care brand built around a refillable system with a forever container and refills in recyclable aluminum cans. - Studio of the Year went to Wedge, which won five awards overall. - Wedge also won Rebrand of the Year for its redesign of oral care brand Cocolab. - The Dieline Design For Good Awards went to Bulletproof and Diageo India for Godawan Artisanal Indian Whisky. - The Godawan project released 173 handcrafted Blue Pottery bottles, one for each surviving Great Indian Bustard. - The conservation effort helped increase the bird population from 96 to 173 and raised more than $1 million.

Between the lines: - DIELINE’s top picks favor packaging that does more than look good. The winners tie design to measurable commercial results, refillability and environmental impact. - The strong showing for plastic-free and refillable concepts suggests brands are still under pressure to prove sustainability claims through packaging choices, not just messaging. - DIELINE founder Andrew Gibbs said the 2026 competition was one of the strongest to date, especially after tiered pricing was introduced for smaller indie studios. - DIELINE editor-in-chief Bill McCool said the sustainable and plastic-free winners could push brands to revisit sustainability goals.

What’s next: - DIELINE is likely to keep using the awards to set an annual benchmark for packaging design trends. - The winning brands and studios now have a high-profile platform to market their design wins and sustainability claims. - The results may add pressure on consumer brands to move away from single-use plastic and toward more circular packaging models.

The bottom line: - DIELINE’s 2026 awards frame packaging design as a business tool, a sustainability lever and a storytelling platform all at once. - More information - Instagram - Facebook - TikTok