The anticipation is growing as we draw closer to the 2025 Global Pouch Forum and the first-ever presentation of the Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation.

Furthermore, the deadline to submit nominations – January 31, 2025 – is now only about a month away. To nominate a top innovator in flexible packaging, click here.

Steve Fairfield was a flexible packaging luminary who left an indelible mark on the baby food and fruit purée industries. Befittingly, the new Steve Fairfield Memorial Award will annually honor a top innovation in flexible packaging. 

Steve Fairfield’s entrepreneurial and visionary contributions reshaped the flexible pouching landscape through his pioneering venture, Eco-Containers. That company was later acquired by Skjodt-Barrett Foods, which is sponsoring the award.

“Skjodt-Barrett Foods is thrilled to announce the Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation, honoring Steve’s lifetime contributions to the advancement of packaging in the baby food and fruit purée snacking industries,” said Mike Bell, Director of Marketing, Skjodt-Barrett Foods. “This award celebrates breakthroughs in flexible packaging, driving the development of more sustainable and efficient products.”

Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, Group Publisher, The Packaging Group, BNP Media, notes, “Every year, we celebrate flexible packaging success stories and innovations at our Global Pouch Forum event. We look forward to celebrating the new Steve Fairfield Memorial Award for Flexible Packaging Innovation, which will be awarded to a new ‘innovation of the year’ each year at the event moving forward, along with prominent feature coverage in Packaging Strategies.” 

To learn more about the 2025 Global Pouch Forum – which will take place June 18-20, 2025, in Clearwater, Florida – click here.