Six recent college graduates traveled to Italy last month as winners of the inaugural Italian Packaging Technology Award, sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission, UCIMA and the Packaging Education Forum.

Created to increase awareness and interest in Italian packaging machinery and technology, the award provides students with an opportunity to visit Italian manufacturers and learn first-hand about innovative packaging solutions, the sponsors say. "Our aim is to establish contacts between academia and Italian companies," says Guido Corbella, general secretary of UCIMA, the Italian Assn. of Automatic Packing and Packaging Machinery Mfrs., based in Milan. "These graduates will be the packaging managers and designers of tomorrow."

Open to students in 14 North American universities and colleges with courses in packaging science, the contest invited college seniors to discuss either "Technological Innovation in the Packaging Machinery Manufacturing Industry" or "Innovation in Packaging Materials" in an essay.

Award winners are Bridget Archibald, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Dustin Armstrong, Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology; Melisa Balkcom, University of Florida at Gainesville; Thomas Berry, Clemson University; I-Kon Chen, California Polytechnic State University; and Matthew Mulvey, Rutgers University.