UNLEASH Your Creativity: Explore the Dieline Awards 2025 Entry Categories

CATEGORY 3:
Health, Beauty, & Personal Care

These categories are for all health, beauty, & personal care products including clothing, fashion, fragrance, health care, body care, beauty, and cosmetics.

• One Best of Category Winner

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each subcategory

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

CATEGORY 4:
Home, Shopping, & Other Markets

These categories are for all home, shopping, & other market products including household maintenance, home improvement, electronics, e-commerce packaging, baby, kids, pets, tobacco & cannabis.

• One Best of Category Winner

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each subcategory

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

CATEGORY 5:
Sustainable Design

These categories are for all sustainably designed products including food, beverage, health, body, beauty, home, shopping, & other markets.

• One Best of Category Winner

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each subcategory

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

CATEGORY 6:
Plastic Free

Presented by A Plastic Planet

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS CATEGORY

• One Best of Category Winner (Plastic Free Innovation of the Year)

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each subcategory

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

In 2019, Dieline Awards partnered with A Plastic Planet to launch the world’s first Plastic Free Award for sustainable, plastic-free packaging. Together, we want to recognize the innovation and efforts of designers and brands for creating the solutions of tomorrow, today.

A Plastic Planet will award 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, while the top-scoring Plastic Free project from the Plastic Free category will win the coveted Plastic Free Innovation of the Year Award for its outstanding work and contribution to plastic-free based package designs over the past year.

A Plastic Planet are global pro-social change-makers. Together we have a single goal, to ignite and inspire the world to turn off the plastic tap. APP works collaboratively with industry, Governments, the UN, and legislators to dramatically reduce the misuse of plastic, particularly when it's used to package food and drink.

CATEGORY 7:
VISUAL BRAND IDENTITY SYSTEMS

This category must include packaging along with visual brand identity systems that can include all brand touchpoints, branding systems, merch, motion graphics, social media and entire marketing campaigns.

Entries in this are awarded based on these five criterias: Memorability, Marketability, Adaptability, Meaningfulness, & Brand Story. 

• One Best of Category Winner

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each subcategory

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

CATEGORY 14:
STARTUP BRANDS

The Startup Brand category is for any new-to-market startup brand and packaging developed within the last year.

• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded.

• New for 2026: Merit Winners Selected from each category.

• Entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

15A Concept – Bread, cereals, pasta

15B Concept – Dairy or dairy alternative products

15C Concept – Spices, oils, sauces

15D Concept – Fruits and Vegetables, Fish, Meat, Poultry & Alternatives

15E Concept – Ready to eat, fast food, meal kits

15F Concept – Confectionary, desserts, and sweet snacks

15G Concept – Savory Snacks

15H Concept – Water

15I Concept – Soft drinks, juices

15J Concept – Tea and Coffee

15K Concept – Functional beverages

15L Concept – Beers, Ciders, & Malt

15M Concept – Low-alcohol and no-alcohol drinks

15N Concept – Wine & Champagne

15O Concept – Clear Spirits

15P Concept – Dark Spirits

15Q Concept – Ready to Serve Cocktails + Seltzers

15R Concept – Clothing, Fashion, Fragrance

15S Concept – Health Care

15T Concept – Body Care

15U Concept – Beauty & Cosmetics

15V Concept – Household maintenance & home improvement

15W Concept – E-commerce packaging

15X Concept – Electronics, office, e-commerce, entertainment, & self-promotional

15Y Concept – Baby, Kids, and Pets

15Z Concept – Tobacco & Cannabis

15ZA Concept – Sustainable

15ZB Concept – Luxury

SPECIAL CATEGORY:
DESIGNALYTICS DESIGN EFFECTIVENESS AWARD

Free to enter - Learn More About this Special Category

This year, in partnership with Designalytics, we will recognize package redesigns that have had a significant measurable impact on brand growth. Winner selection is data-driven, and based on:

• An analysis of sales performance (via retail scanner data) for the six months prior to and following the redesign.

• Evaluation by hundreds of consumers on multiple design performance indicators, including preference, communication, mental availability, resonance, and more.