
THE INTERNATIONAL JUDGING PANEL
The judging Panel of WorldStar is composed of WPO Board members which consist of leading packaging professionals and Executive Directors of National and regional Packaging Institutes for more than 60 countries.The judging panel usually meets in November of each year for the judging process. The jury's decision is final.The jury has the right to exclude entries which do not meet the conditions of entry.
JUDGES FOR WORLDSTAR 2026

Nerida Kelton
Executive Director Australasian Institute of Packaging
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND


Ernst Krottendorfer
Managing Director Packforce Austria
AUSTRIA


Mariana
General manager CENEM
CHILE


Miriela Valle Cepero
Asesora Centro Nacional de Envases y Embalajes
CUBA


Iva Werbynská
Managing Director Czech & Slovak Packaging Institute SYBA
CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA


Antro Säilä
Managing Director Finnish Packaging Association
FINLAND


Oliver Berndt
Head of Events & Marketing dvi German Packaging Institute
GERMANY


Dimitris Mandis
Chairman AGMPM
GREECE


Pelczer Ágnes
organising secretary Csomagolási és Anyagmozgatási Országos Szövetség
HUNGARY


Shekhar Amberkar
Deputy Director & Head - International Packaging Centre Indian Institute of Packaging
INDIA


Abdullah Adnan Abdulkarim
Director National Center of Packing and Packaging
IRAQ


shira Rosen
chairwoman Israeli packaging institute
ISRAEL


Alessandra Alessi
Communication Manager Istituto Italiano Imballaggio
ITALY


Yoichi Sonoyama
General Managing Director Japan Packaging Institute
JAPAN


Joseph Nyongesa
Chief Executive Officer Institute of Packaging Professionals Kenya
KENYA


Sandra Muižniece-Brasava
Chairwoman of the LIA Board Packaging Association of Latvia (LIA)
LATVIA


Michael Nieuwesteeg
Managing Director NVC Packaging Centre
NETHERLANDS


AHMED ALEX OMAH
Executive Director Advanced Institute of Packaging Professionals Nigeria Ltd./Gte.
NIGERIA


Ayman Sbeih
Secretary General PFPPI
PALESTINE


Andrey Zagorskiy
Board Member NCPack
RUSSIA


SUSI MOORE
CHAIRMAN IPSA SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA


Nacho Cusi
general Secretry Nacho
SPAIN


A R Munasinghe
Past President Sri Lanka Institute of Packaging
SRI LANKA


Mikael Gällstedt
Head of the Swedish Packaging Guild, Chairman of Scandinavian Packaging Association, Project Manager or Scanstar competition Swedish Packaging Guild
SWEDEN


CHARLES MUYANJA
President Institute of Packaging partners of Uganda (IPPU)
UGANDA


Nohelia Barrios
Executive Director Camara Venezolana del Envase (CAVENVASE)
VENEZUELA

JUDGING CRITERIA
FOR WORLDSTAR MAIN CATEGORIES
The judges consider the following criteria:

Protection and preservation of contents

Sales Appeal: On-Pack Branding/ Marketability

Ergonomics

Quality of Execution

Sustainability

Cost Reduction, economy of material, and cost saving

Ease of handling, filling, closing, opening and reclosing

Creativity and Innovation
JUDGING CRITERIA
FOR WORLDSTAR SPECIAL CATEGORIES
Marketing Award:
- The overall success of the packaging to represent the equity of the brand and relevance to the product
- The point of difference that gives it a marketing edge encouraging purchase
- The packaging that best creates value to the consumer based on interaction, emotional connection or usability
Sustainability Award
- SOCIAL: Benefit to Society
- MATERIAL: Responsible raw materials sourcing, including materials from renewable resources
- SOURCE REDUCTION: weight reduction when compared to the previous package or to general packs in its class
- ENERGY: Optimization during transportation, storage and use
- RECOVERY: Re-usability, recyclability, recoverability, post-consumer material recycling, ease of disposal
Packaging that Save the Food
- The packaging solution has shown to reduce food losses or food waste in a relevant amount.
- Appropriateness, adequacy, convenience
- Innovative but feasible
- Sustainability
- Communicates to consumers that the package is saving food or reducing food losses/food waste
- Benefit to Society/Community
Accessible Packaging Award:
- Packaging must be easy to open and use for those with limited functional abilities.
- Innovation for accessibility
- Packaging shall be fit for purposes
- Packaging labelling information shall be highly legible
JUDGING PROCESS
The Judging process for WorldStar is conducted over 2 phases usually in the month of November of each year.
- The first phase is done online where each judge assess each WorldStar entry remotely and individually and puts a score based on the above judging criteria
- The second phase is a live deliberation session via zoom meeting or physically to assess the shortlisted entries and to select the special award categories.