Murat Sipahioglu succeeds Tony White as Chairman of Judges of the FINAT Label Competition
FINAT, the international association for the European label industry, is pleased to announce that Murat Sipahioglu has taken over the responsibilities as jury chairman of the annual FINAT Label Competition. This competition recognises and highlights the advantages and uses of self-adhesive labels and flexible packaging as an effective marketing, promotional or identification tool.
Next to regular judge Steve Wood, who has been assigned the chairmanship of the L9 World Label Association Awards, Murat has been a senior judge for the FINAT Label Competition since 2009 and is enabling a high degree of continuity to be achieved. He has built up an extensive knowledge of the processes used in label production from a technical and marketing viewpoint and has worked for several notable companies in the label industry. Currently he is employed with Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG in Turkey where he holds the position of Gallus Product & Marketing Manager. He has also been a significant member of the Turkish Label Association for many years and was deeply involved in the TLA label competition.
Past jury Chairman Tony White comments: “He is a team player with a high level of integrity and always contributes immensely to the final judging process. He is a capable team leader and will lead and encourage any new members of the judging panel. Moreover, he will uphold the level of trust for which the competition is noted and apply his technical knowledge and expertise to ensure that the high standards which have been the cornerstone of the competition for many years are upheld.”
In response, Murat says: “It took me a while to appreciate the label itself and its importance on the packaging of a product, but learning and understanding everything about the label business from the best in the industry and working alongside Tony and Steve for 15 years has made me the professional I am today. We make a good and fun team and I look forward to working with my fellow judges for many years to come.”
In 2025, FINAT will also welcome two new judges:
- Phil Baldwin, Technical Sales Manager Narrow Mid Web at BOBST, United Kingdom
- Fahri Ilazi, Head of Sales & Customer Service Flexible Dies at Kocher+Beck, Germany
Entries for the competition will be accepted till the 25th of February. For more information and how to enter, please visit: https://www.finat.com/events/finat-competitions.