The Horners Awards welcomes entries for 2023

The Horners Awards are believed to be the longest established design award for plastics in the world. The first competition was held in 1947.

Winners of the awards will be honoured at a ceremony – either in Mansion House, where they will be presented with a trophy by the Lord Mayor, or on stage at the esteemed BPF Annual Dinner, which takes place this October. 

Winners receive digital badges to display on their websites, promotion on the BPF’s social media accounts, as well as dedicated press releases celebrating their achievement – making the award a fantastic opportunity to promote your business as an innovator within the industry. 

BPF Director General Philip Law said: “The Horners Awards bring together the best in plastics innovation from across the UK. Plastics play a crucial role in products that help save lives, through technologies that enable sustainable development, across a wide range of cutting-edge applications. These awards help remind us that plastics are the material of choice for modern innovation and demonstrate the strength of the industry we have in the UK.” 

Having simplified the entry process, all entrants can now fill in one form to be in with a chance of winning four different awards: The Horners Award for Plastics Innovation and Design, The Bottlemakers Award for packaging, the David Williams Award, and the Horner’s BPF Award. 

Last year’s winners included VARDAR (with their Dual Directional Flow Air Ring), Coveris (MonoFlexBE Cheese Pouches), and Zara King for an outstanding contribution to society through plastics. The BPF's special commendation' award went to Plastribution for its 7 Branches of Sustainability initiative. 

The Horners Awards are open to all polymer-based innovations that are created/sold in the UK or use UK content, and will be judged on originality, practicality (technical, economical, feasibility, commerciality) and sustainability. 

Professor Stefaan Simons, integral member of the Horners Award Committee, added: “Entrants of the Horners Awards demonstrate the ingenuity of British inventors, companies, and technical specialists that utilise plastics in modern products. This year we are particularly pleased to welcome entries that demonstrate how plastic helps us live sustainably, as well as plastic products that help reduce environmental impacts.”