PSI becomes a big sustainability stage

• Register now by no later than 1 October 2020
• PSI Sustainability Awards with new special category

Sustainability and responsibility have already decisively contributed to shaping the promotional product market for years now. The current Corona crisis has raised awareness for sustainable consumption even further, giving this topic additional momentum. This will also be reflected at PSI to be held in Düsseldorf from 12 to 14 January 2021. It will serve as the new stage for the sixth PSI Sustainability Awards, which will be organised with the special category “Innovator of the Year” for the first time now. All sustainably acting companies can apply until 1 October 2020.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic many companies have been bogged down over the past few months. “This is also an exceptional situation for us,” says Petra Lassahn, Director of the PSI trade show and adds: “We have changed our day-to-day business and adapted our services to our customers’ current needs so as to help them rapidly and with new formats. For our customers securing their daily business is centre stage. This is why we have slightly postponed the application period for the Awards so that we are now starting the application process with a slight delay.”

New category: Sustainable innovation of the year

Newly established as a special category from 2021 will be the “Innovator of the Year”. This category is about a sustainable product and its story. “Consumers are to learn about the history of the product, its components and material composition. They are to find out about the manufacturing sites and the people manufacturing this article; and, of course, also about the carbon footprint of the product and the journey the product makes to its final destination,” explains Steven Baumgärtner, CEO of Cybergroup International and Global Director Sales as well as the sponsor of this category. Centrestage here is the motivation behind the sustainability and the ecological and social responsibility that the partner companies assume for their production and production sites with all their employees. This means the new Special Award Category not only recognises the sustainable product as such but comprehensively pinpoints the sustainable context in which it is embedded.

Application for the new Special Category

Companies can apply for the “Innovator of the Year” category separately by e-mail to awards@psi-network.de. Applications are subject to submitting valid certifications in the areas of quality management, environmental management and social management. The application should comprise a sustainable product and the documentation of its genesis as well as of the sustainable supply chains involved. The companies forming part of this supply chain will also have to submit the relevant certificates in the fields of business, ecology and social matters.

All categories at a glance

The Awards will be presented in nine categories: Economic, Environmental and Social Excellence, Environmental and Social Initiative, Sustainable Product and Sustainable Campaign as well as Innovator of the Year. The company with the highest total score wins Category 9: “Sustainable Company of the Year”.

Until 1 October 2020 all international companies that act sustainably will have the chance to apply for the awards. All members of the Sustainable League, i.e. participants from past years, will be nominated automatically by the PSI. The entries submitted will be rated by a scoring system and an expert jury.

Awards to move closer to the industry

On top of this, the Awards will celebrate their sixth edition under the roof of The World of Advertising and Selling. This will make PSI a hub for sustainability with the winners presented at a gala forming part of the trade show on 12 January 2021, the first day of the event. All award-winning submissions will also be on display on site on all three days of the trade show. “With this move we are responding to the wishes voiced by many participants to move the Awards closer to the industry,” says Michael Freter, Managing Director of the PSI.

For the terms and conditions of participation and further details go to www.psi-awards.de