This year, the DIELINE Awards received more than 1,500 entries from around 40 countries, across 15 categories, reflecting the key trends currently shaping the future of the industry and reinforcing the strategic and creative impact of design in brand building.

The winners were announced on 6 May during Luxe Pack in New York, at the annual DIELINE Awards – The Best in Packaging Design ceremony, considered the world’s most prestigious distinction in packaging design.

The Portuguese Gold sardine tin, by The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, received the coveted award in the Food Packaging category. The project reinvents the classic Portuguese sardine tin through a monochromatic gold aluminium finish, combining advanced lithography with tactile embossing applied directly onto the metal. The solution was developed using Sonoco’s metal packaging technology.

The inspiration behind the Portuguese Gold tin came from *O Livro de Ouro das Conservas Portuguesas* (“The Golden Book of Portuguese Tinned Fish”), a work by Leitão de Barros — filmmaker, writer and one of the most influential figures in shaping Portuguese cultural modernity during the 20th century. Published with a clear international ambition, the book documented the entire Portuguese canning industry chain, from fishing and fish preparation to factory production, presenting canned fish as a symbol of Portugal’s export capacity and as ambassadors of the country around the world.

Above all, it was the visual and material strength of the book that inspired the concept behind the now award-winning tin. Its heavy gold embossed cover, conceived as a true prestige object, directly inspired the creation of the Ouro Português packaging, designed to reposition Portuguese canned fish within the international premium segment through a contemporary visual language associated with exclusivity, design and cultural value.

For The Fantastic World of the Portuguese Sardine, this recognition at the DIELINE Awards confirms the growing international appreciation of Portuguese canned fish as a premium product, where tradition, identity and design intersect in a distinctive way. It is also a clear sign that Portuguese design is capable of competing at the highest global level.