The Cans of the Year Awards has championed the cause of the can since 1996, where it made its first appearance alongside Cannex in Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The awards were introduced to celebrate and promote metal packaging. A great deal of innovative, even ground breaking work takes place within the industry each year.

However, until Cans of the Year, the industry lacked an international platform to showcase these developments or display the diversity of the can as a packaging medium.

The awards have grown in size and stature ever since, pulling in entries from multi million dollar organisations to independent family run businesses world wide. Cans of the Year has traditionally run alongside the Cannex exhibition where attendees to the show vote for the overall Cans of the Year winner.

A selection of experienced industry executives, hand-picked by The Canmaker team, choose the category winners, awarding gold, silver and bronze prizes.