ICMAD, The Independent Cosmetic Manufacturers and Distributors Association, is looking for design students to showcase their emerging talent and creativity with its Young Designers Award Competition.

A prestigious competition, established in 1999, ICMAD’s Young Designers Award Competition allows universities and students to be recognized and rewarded for their ability to create real world designs that show overall uniqueness, ability to be reproduced economically, and ability to stand out favorably against competitive packages.

Participating universities and students are given a clear, 8-ounce jar with cap and asked to design the label and outer packaging for their product. Schools determine and submit their top 15 entries for review. ICMAD judges then select the top five entries. The five finalists are flown out to southern California for the awards ceremony, which will be held in February 20, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa.

In addition to monetary awards for the finalists, this year’s first place winner receives additional inaugural opportunities, which are generously donated by East Hill Industries and QuadPack, of an allexpenses paid trip to QuadPack’s manufacturing facility in Spain. Once the first-place recipient returns to the U.S., a summer or six-month internship at Mary Kay, Inc. will be waiting for him or her.

“2019 marks the 20th year of ICMAD’s Young Designers Award Competition. As such, the awards this year are phenomenal, and I’m pleased to announce the kick-off of the competition,” said Pamela Busiek, president and CEO of ICMAD. “We created the Young Designers Award Competition to display the extraordinary and emerging talents of packaging and design students at the college level. The goal of this competition is to encourage, foster and develop future leaders in the packaging design industry.”

Universities interested in participating should contact Donna Hoye at ICMAD for information, as well as instructions on signing up and how to best incorporate the design competition into their lesson plans for the year.

ICMAD’s Young Designers Award Competition is possible thanks to generous support from companies like East Hill Industries, Mary Kay, Inc. and Quad Pack.

Pictured: 2018 Winners (left-right) Third Place, Jamie Van Dyke, Colorado Mesa University, Honorable Mention, Ashley Munson, Laguna College of Art & Design, Second Place, Jessica Wu, Laguna College of Art & Design, First Place, Erik Rosner, Laguna College of Art & Design.