Community Partnership Awards (CPA)
Be the Best - Enter the new FDF Awards in 2013!
The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at Shakespeare's Globe,
London on 24 October 2012.
Be inspired by our winners!
FDF's Community Partnership Awards are an established and integral part of our
annual activity, allowing us to recognise and celebrate the tremendous
contribution the UK food and drink sector makes to the economy and to the many
different
communities in which it operates.
This year we have made 25 gold, silver, bronze and highly commended awards from
another record number of entries, including those to the new 'Export Success of
the Year', 'Growing Business of the Year' and 'Developing Skills for the Future
' categories developed in recognition of the leadership being shown by
companies
in these areas.
View photos from the award ceremony on Flickr
View 2012 winning case studies
Awards categories 2012
The Community Partnership Awards categories reflect the key areas of relevance
to the food and drink sector.
Companies are welcome to submit more than one entry in any category, however,
each entry must be submitted separately.
Apprentice of the year
You are invited to nominate an apprentice who has shown continuous progress in
their work and studies or who has made an outstanding contribution to the
business through a one-off project.
Those nominated should be undertaking their apprenticeship at the time of
nomination.
The nomination can be made by a line manager, HR representative or college
tutor.
This category was launched last year to support FDF's careers campaign 'Taste Success – A Future in Food'.
Education
Entrants to this category will show how their company is engaging positively
with schools - from primary, though to secondary, college and university level.
Nominations could be for a one-off event, an ongoing contribution to lessons or
extra curricular school activities.
This can include: programmes designed to give students real-life experience of
the world of work and partnerships with schools that support the national
curriculum.
Entries can be made for both national and local initiatives.
Apprenticeships and other educational initiatives that are specific to the
workplace should be nominated within the Apprentices or Good Employer
categories.
Environmental leadership
We welcome entries from companies that could meet either one of the two criteria
below:
- Many companies have successfully reduced their carbon, water use and waste
through individual initiatives. This year, we are looking for companies that
have
really embedded sustainability throughout their product's/company business
plan,
from customer use right through to use and disposal.
- Sustainability is becoming a wider issue than water, carbon and packaging. We
are looking for examples companies that have taken important steps to consider
much wider impacts that are not exclusive to their operations– for example
biodiversity
Export success of the year
Helping food companies grow and remain competitive is one of FDF's key themes
for 2012. We have been celebrating industry's export success via our biannual
reports for some time, and would like to recognise this further by awarding
companies that are pushing boundaries.
Nominations could be for companies tapping into new markets, creating targeted
products, developing new exports strategies or growing sales significantly in
established markets.
All entries must cover successfully traded goods over the last two years.
Good employer
We are looking for examples of why your company is a great place to work. You
may offer an innovative employee support package; a unique approach to team
building; excellent benefits or go 'above and beyond' in designing a flexible
working
approach.
Any nominations must specifically benefit your company's employees.
Health and wellbeing initiatives should be nominated under the Health and Wellbeing category. Training initiatives should be nominated under skills.
Growing business of the year
With 20% growth predicted by 2020, food manufacturing is an expanding industry.
We are looking for nominations from companies that can demonstrate how they
have
successfully grown their business during 2011.
Growth could be through increased domestic and export market sales; capacity and
resource expansion or developing new and innovative product lines. We are
particularly keen for entries from small and medium sized enterprises.
Growth generated solely through exports should be nominated in the exports category.
Health & wellbeing
This is one of FDF's key priority areas, aiming to make a positive difference to
the health of the nation. 
Entries in this category can include product reformulation and the development
of healthier products, workplace wellbeing initiatives, sponsorship of health
related activities and any other initiative that aims to encourage increased
exercise or healthier lifestyles, both for staff and for consumers.
Local community
Entrants to this category must demonstrate how your company makes a positive
difference to improve the welfare of your immediate local community. 
Nominations can include activities that support specific elements of a local
community such as the elderly or socially disadvantaged. They can also include
activities that support the whole local community such as regeneration
projects.
Developing skills for the future
With a shortfall of 137,000 employees expected in the industry by 2017, we are
actively working on developing a pipeline of talent for the future. This
category
recognises company innovation and success in recruiting, developing skills and
retaining talent.
Nominations for this category can include people and training strategies,
innovative recruitment or retention campaigns, apprenticeship and graduate
programmes
and initiatives to up-skill existing staff and managers. We also welcome any
nominations specifically focused on youth employment.
More information
Last reviewed: 15 Mar 2013