
A new holographic calendar has won the ‘best applied decorative/packaging product’ category at the Excellence in Holography Awards 2020, organized by the industry trade body International Hologram Manufacturers Association (IHMA).
The calendar, from USA’s Hazen Paper Company, features a number of holographic innovations to create a decorative design. These include Hazen-lenses set behind the date and month windows, a grey motion background sky and a colour variant for the dragon’s body, and dual lenses to create a flame effect.
The award was presented by the IHMA at this year’s virtual Holography Conference (8 – 9 December), reflecting a ‘significant step forward’ in the ongoing development of highly innovative holography solutions for commercial packaging, decorative finishes, and applications.

The Excellence in Holography event recognizes outstanding achievement, marking success for those at the forefront of the sector who have developed innovative or commercially viable hologram products or techniques over the last 12 months.
Involving sector suppliers, manufacturers and end-users from around the world, the event, held for the first time online due to the pandemic, saw Dr Paul Dunn, chair of the IHMA, commend the standard of entries as extremely high, reflecting a rising industry that continues to innovate, enthrall and surprise.
In congratulating Hazen, he said, “This has been a difficult year because of the pandemic but once was again it’s been tough for the IHMA board to judge the winners. The awards celebrate the best in holographic achievement and ground-breaking innovations, which keep our industry to the fore in a diverse and growing array of applications around the world.”
The IHMA is made up of more than 90 of the world’s hologram companies. Members include the producers and converters of holograms for banknote security, anti-counterfeiting, brand protection, packaging, graphics, and other commercial applications around the world, and actively cooperate to maintain the highest professional, security, and quality standards.