Celebrating a standout year carton innovation: 2025 ECEA winners

Published 18 December 2025

As the year comes to a close, we're looking back at some of the achievements that shaped 2025 for our customers and partners. One notable event came earlier this autumn at the 2025 European Carton Excellence Awards in Istanbul where Pro Carton and the European Carton Manufacturers Association (ECMA) celebrated novel carton solutions across diverse categories. We're excited to share that this year, packaging projects built on Stora Enso cartonboard made a particularly strong showing, spanning uses from cosmetics and confectionery to healthcare and frozen food.

Of the multiple awarded entries at the 2025 ECEA, eight incorporated Stora Enso cartonboard across the award categories Sustainability, Confectionery, Beverages, Pharmaceutical, Ambient, Frozen & Chilled, and Beauty & Cosmetics.

Let's take a closer look at these successes and see how our material capabilities helped unlock design, functionality, and market ambitions.

Spotlight on the winners and their carton solutions

Claber Lancia Pro 8535 (Sustainability Award winner)

The winning designreplaced a previously mixed-material format (carton and plastic) with a fully cartonboard-based blister pack, eliminating plastic components entirely. The new structure cuts packaging volume by approximately 50%, optimises logistics, and integrates locking mechanisms directly into the board. That level of structural precision, while preserving product visibility, reflects what high-performance cartonboard can deliver in demanding applications.

Lucaprint, the converter behind the award-winning solution, emphasized the importance of material choice in making this possible:

"We are proud to have received two awards at the 2025 edition of the European Carton Excellence Awards. Both winning projects were based on Stora Enso's CKB cartonboard, in the 315g grade," said Alberto Luca, President at Lucaprint."

Commenting on Stora Enso's role in delivering the final package, he added: "CKB is not only a cartonboard with excellent performance, but a material that combines aesthetics, functionality, and responsibility. Its versatility, strength, and ease of conversion allowed us to develop two innovative, plastic-free solutions for prestigious clients such as illycaffè and Claber. These awards confirm that a future built on 100% recyclable packaging is no longer a distant prospect, but an increasingly tangible reality."

Milka Advent Calendar (Confectionery - Winner)

Milka's calendar design, executed by MM Packaging using Stora Enso's Ensocoat SBS board, brings interactivity and delight into the holiday season. Each door also functions as a small ornament while the underlying carton structure ensures rigidity, printability, and shelf appeal through the full season. The result is a playful, premium experience built on a robust material.

PAVÉ D'AFFINOIS Mini l'Original (Frozen & Chilled - Winner)

In chilled food, moisture, low temperatures, and handling stresses are a tough combination. The winning design avoided conventional plastic nets or shrink wraps in favour of a carton format.

The folding carton confidently holds individual cheese portions. while enabling easy opening and reclosing. It was produced by Van Genechten Packaging and built on Stora Enso's CKB 290g, engineered to resist changes under cold, moisture, and transit.

Rituals Car Gift Set Sakura (Beauty & Cosmetics - Winner)

This is a standout in form and function. The carton is shipped flat, stacks efficiently, and transforms at point-of-sale: once the insert is removed, the packaging becomes a stylish storage box. A locking lid mimics a car silhouette, internal locking systems hold contents tightly without plastic seals, and the format uses up to 70 % of the internal space.

The converter, Van Genechten Packaging, drew on the capability and integrity of Stora Enso's Performa Agile to bring this design to life.

Lokal Rakı Derya Kuzusu Carton (Beverages, Platinum Award)

In the beverage class, the Lokal Rakı Derya Kuzusu package stood out. Here, the cartonboard needed to balance visual impact, moisture resistance, and structural integrity for display and transport. Emboldened by the performance of Ensocoat 275 gsm in beverage packaging, the converter (Duran Doğan) delivered a package that keeps the spirit of the brand front and centre.

Martell Cognac Noblige LE25 (Beverages, Gold Award)

Martell's limited-edition cognac package blends elegance with engineering. The design, produced by Van Genechten Packaging, required high-impact printability, and a structural solution that protects the bottle, all while maintaining an upscale feel. Stora Enso's cartonboard consistency, stiffness, and print surface supported those combined demands.

Mathys AG Medical Hip & Knee Implant Packaging (Pharma & Health Care, Gold Award)

Created by Graphic Packaging International, this innovative design demonstrates how thoughtful engineering and renewable material choices can reshape medical packaging. The solution replaces foam-based protection with a paperboard-only approach, supporting recyclability while still meeting strict requirements for device safety, sterility, and handling accuracy.

The structure features a tailored inlay with a honeycomb geometry that holds the implant securely and consistently across multiple formats. Combined with a multi-part carton system built for controlled opening and handling, the design supports both usability and efficiency throughout logistics and clinical workflows. The new format also simplifies inventory and reduces packaging complexity for the brand owner.

To achieve the necessary strength, precision, and surface quality, GPI selected Stora Enso's high-performance paperboard. Its mechanical stability and converting reliability enabled the intricate design features, such as inserts, sealing surfaces, and structural elements, to perform consistently in manufacturing and use. Together, the material and engineering deliver a certified, scalable, and forward-thinking solution for sensitive medical devices.

illycaffè X-Caps (Ambient Goods, Gold Award)

For the illy X-Caps capsule system, the packaging must both protect freshness and communicate premium appeal. Lucaprint used Stora Enso's board to balance structural support and visual communication. The result is a carton that performs across logistics, shelf, and consumer touchpoints.

Emerging themes

From reviewing this group of carton solutions, some common trends stand out:

• Fiber-based packaging ambition: Several projects eliminated inline components entirely, such as converting locking, inserts, or seals into board features.
• Logistics and material efficiency: Many winners emphasized reduction in volume during transport like flat shipping and compact designs, and high internal utilization of space, e.g., 70 % of internal volume for Rituals.
• Performance under stress: Frozen, chilled, or healthcare use cases demand robustness in low temperature, humidity, or sterile conditions.
• Premium surface and print quality: For high-end spirits, cosmetics, and confectionery, the board needed to support vivid printing and special finishes.
  
  These packages illustrate that when designed with the right cartonboard, the selected material can meet or exceed expectations across demanding segments.

Congratulations to our partners

We congratulate all the winners, and celebrate the brand owners and converters who pushed boundaries in 2025. Their creativity and commitment elevate the bar for what packaging can do for product protection, consumer experience, and circularity.

For us at Stora Enso, these award-winning projects reaffirm where we aim to contribute as a foundational enabler. We look forward to deepening collaborations with converters and brand owners, to bring even bolder carton concepts to the market.

Here's to more innovations ahead, stretching what cartonboard can deliver -- one award-winning design at a time.