Another spectacular evening in the beautiful Cheshire countryside, for the 2022 BAMA Awards dinner and ceremony. There were several familiar faces amongst the diners, people who have been actively involved with our Association for several years, but also some who came for the first time: companies that joined BAMA recently or new staff at existing Member firms. Tiziana Dorigo, BAMA Membership Manager ‘We hope they felt welcome and had a good experience. Those new to our industry have a steep learning curve to climb, I know from experience, but people in the aerosol sector are friendly, collaborative and supportive. That makes the journey easier for the “newbies”.
For this year Awards BAMA had secured a stand up comedian who thought well of breaking his ankle a week before the event: what a joke! Panic and fibrillation ensued among the BAMA staff. Fortunately, Neil Delamare was able to step in at short notice and delight the audience with his hilarious anecdotes and even held a surprise aerosol-themed quiz.
Once the crowd had wined and dined, Peter Watmough took to the stage to announce the Awards results: Patrick Heskins, BAMA Chief Executive, was meant to host the Awards but he had dropped out at the very last minute, victim of Covid. Peter rose to the challenge and performed admirably.
We have immortalized the winners’ smiles and captured some of the Judges’ comments below.
Process Safety & Training Award
The uncontested winner was Massilly UK with ‘Needs & Expectations’, the largest, most complex file our judges ever had to get their teeth in. Massilly’s entry didn’t won for size, though: they produced evidence of how they had used the Manufacturing module of the BAMA Standard to inform the workflow and the performance monitoring on their production site.
Comments: ‘A very organised, staged, accountable system’ ‘Pretty comprehensive. They clearly take pride in their process.’ ‘It shows commitment to safety’ ‘…not just a tick-box exercise.’
Sustainability Award
Entries in this category are always fascinating, more than ever this year, with all entrants showing real effort to reduce the environmental impact of their products.
One product was unanimously singled out as the winner: JAGOPro’s environment friendly spray cap made of organic, compostable material.
Comments: ‘Potentially the biggest impact on consumer’s behaviour’ ‘Consumers won’t get confused, it is clearly compostable’ ‘The most sustainable product we have looked at’.
The Runner Up was Coster’s Vortex technology, which, applied to a spray cap, overcomes the recycling complications created by the mixed material insert.
Comments: ‘Good use of technology: normally the insert is overseen.’ ‘Not so obvious, not for consumers, but it will impact the recycling process if consistency of material will be required in the UK.’
Aerosol Packaging Award
Another clear winner for the Packaging category: the judges awarded first place to the DigiGrip Can from Massilly & Tinmasters, closely followed by the eCap by JagoPro. Two drastically different products, both with literally tangible differences from the mainstream.
Comments on the DigiGrip Can: ‘Useful and more cost-effective than embossing’ ‘It extends the application of digital printing’ ‘It shows how printing technology can go beyond the aesthetic.’
Comments on JagoPro eCap: ‘Less energy-intensive than plastic.’ ‘Really innovative.’ ‘Can be re-used as pot for seeds.’ ‘You can have it in any colour you like.’
New Aerosol of the Year Award
For this category, there was some struggle to identify a winner between widely different entries. Eventually, the judges were each asked to give their ranking for the entries individually: it felt like the scores at an ice-skating competition, but it worked.
On top came CosterEco: technology applied to the dispensing system to close the gap between the spray performance given by LPG and that given by compressed air.
Comments: ‘Two strong arguments for the environment: the absence of LPG and the single-material plastic.’ ‘They are hitting the middle-ground between the LPG and Compressed-Air products by delivering the performance.’
Church & Dwight were awarded with Highly Commended for their newly formulated range of dry shampoo, Batiste Naturally, which had initially been looked at with a shade of scepticism!
Comments: ‘It feels different from the previous version: definitely improved.’ ‘The product is pretty impressive, it leaves no visible residue.’ ‘The scent is quite good too.’
Special Recognition Award
BAMA’s award for a special contribution to the aerosol industry went this year to Malcolm Large, Technical Manager at Lindal Valve. Malcolm has dispensed his technical knowledge to the world for 27 years, and he has done that with a constant smile on his face.
This is what Patrick Heskins had to say about him: ‘Malcom Large is one of those “ever present” people in the aerosol industry. He knows how to do it right and he knows how to do it wrong (just spend an evening with him and ask him about his early years in the industry). His depth of knowledge in so many different areas is almost without peer, and he has been a wonderful supporter of BAMA, attending events, sitting on and chairing committees, and using his broad knowledge to great effect at many of our training sessions.’
‘When his name was proposed for BAMA Special Recognition Award there was almost a “well why haven’t we given it to him before?” moment. Congratulations Malcom, from everyone at BAMA, there can be few more deserving.’
Photography
The theme for this category is ‘Aerosol in Action’ and the subject can cover any of the aspects of aerosol design, production, promotion, and use. The Awards judges shortlist four images that are then voted by the delegates during the first day of the Forum.
This year’s winner is an image taken by Pauline Ssenabulya, junior chemist at Church & Dwight, and it will feature on the cover of next year’s BAMA Annual report.
Tiziana congratulates the budding talent ‘Well done to Pauline, who also wins a yearly membership to The Guild of Photographers, including a subscription to their monthly magazine: keep shooting!’