FDF Awards 2019

Our awards are fast becoming the industry benchmark of excellence for innovation, competitiveness and talent. Each year, companies from across the food and drink supply chain enter the FDF Awards, and over 500 guests come together to celebrate the winners at the FDF Awards ceremony.

Please be advised entries for our FDF Awards 2019 have now closed. We are expecting to announce the shortlist towards the end of June.

FDF Awards 2019 Shortlist

Congratulations to all our 2019 shortlisted entrants!

For further details on the FDF Awards 2019 view our press release.

Ticket sales are now open.

Apprentice of the Year

There are more apprentices than ever in the food and drink supply chain. These are the potential industry leaders of the future. Our Apprentice of the Year will have shown exceptional progress in both their skills development and studies or have made an exceptional contribution to the business through a one-off project.

Those nominated must be undertaking their apprenticeship at the time of nomination. The nomination can be made by a line manager, HR representative or college tutor.

Shortlist

Weetabix - Sam Dagley
Unilever UK & Ireland - Abigail Davidson
OAL - Kyle Constable
Premier Foods - Gareth Thompson
ABP UK - Millie Blackburn

Brand Launch of the Year

Have you launched an exciting new brand, whether a single product or a range? Or is your business strengthening an existing brand or rebranding an existing range?

This category will look at food and drink manufacturers launching a new brand, launching a new initiative to strengthen an existing brand or launching a rebrand. In all three cases, the brand may relate to a single product or a range of products.

Judges will look at the brand positioning, communication, differentiation, protectability and the initiatives taken to build consumer engagement, whether rational, emotional or both. Entries will need to show why a specific brand approach has been adopted, the steps taken to protect and communicate it, with metrics demonstrating consumer engagement.

Shortlist

The Meatless Farm Co
pladis - Flipz
Premier Foods - Mr Kipling Unicorn Slices
Häagen-Dazs - Häagen-Dazs Mini-Cups Collection
Nature Valley - Nature Valley Nut Butter Cups
Samworth Brothers - Honest Crust
Britvic plc - Robinsons Fruit Creations and Robinsons Fruit Cordials

Campaign of the Year

Companies are becoming ever-more innovative in communicating with their audiences. This category is for in-house or agency teams to enter campaigns centring on sales, driving behaviour change, launches, research or increasing awareness. The campaign can utilise a variety of media including digital, PR or marketing.

The judges will be looking for campaigns that are strongly evaluated against their original aims. Success will be considered against the original objectives and should include a variety of measurements, not just AVE or 'likes'.

The judges will be looking for a campaign that is creative, achieves its objectives, is clearly evaluated and robustly demonstrates its value for money.

Shortlist

FareShare - Feed People First
Gosh! Food - The Gosh! Kindness Café
Birds Eye - Captain Birds Eye 'Real Food. Simply Made' campaign
Mr Kipling – Premier Foods - Mr Kipling & Roald Dahl's Splendiferous Summer Partnership
Mondelez International - Cadbury Inventor
apetito UK Ltd - Wiltshire Farm Foods Rebrand

Community Partner

Are you making a difference in your community?

Many food and drink supply chain companies work closely with their communities and this can either be a physical community, such as those living close to the factory; a specific sector of society or even an online community.

We are looking for companies that have carried out outstanding work with their chosen community and made a positive difference.

Shortlist

Loch Duart - Salmon Pool Community Fund
Valeo Foods UK - Rowse Hives for Lives
Coca-Cola Great Britain - ParkLives from Coca-Cola Great Britain
FareShare - Fight Hunger Create Change
Bags of Taste - Bags of Taste, combating food poverty
Company Shop Group - Community Shop: Building Stronger Individuals and More Confident Communities

Diet & Health

Has your company made a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing of its customers? FDF will award projects that have improved diets and health either through:

Product reformulation, changing recipes to help people achieve dietary goals*, for example by reducing salt, fat and sugar content or increasing fibre or vegetable composition
Focusing on portion sizes and offering a range of smaller or more adaptable products to encourage appropriate consumption
Creating new products – helping people achieve dietary goals*

*This award is aimed at recognising where companies are helping the general population achieve dietary goals by changing products or introducing new products. Judges will be considering the UK dietary guidance for both nutrients (e.g. salt, sugars, saturated fat, energy, fibre) or foods (fruit & vegetables, oily fish). Foods that are designed to help consumers with specific medical conditions, e.g. gluten free, will not be considered.

Shortlist

Kellogg's - Kellogg's Coco Pops Sugar Reduction
Britvic - A Healthier Everyday
McCain Foods (GB) Ltd - McCain Home Chips Lighter
Mondelez International - Cadbury Dairy Milk 30% Less Sugar
Kerry Taste & Nutrition - Nutritional Optimisation in Beverage for our Foodservice customers through reformulation and NPD
Kellogg Company – W.K. Kellogg No Added Sugar Granolas

Education Initiative

Many companies work positively with schools and colleges to encourage interest in food and drink manufacturing and help to facilitate employment opportunities for young people. Nominations could be for a one-off event, an ongoing contribution to lessons, schemes to experience the world of work or develop employability skills.

Entries can be made for local or national initiatives.

Shortlist

RSSL - Science Takes to the Road with RSSL
PepsiCo International - The PepsiCo Beaumont Park STEM Initiative
Coca-Cola European Partners - Coca-Cola European Partners and UK Youth's 'Reach Up' programme
Nestlé UK & Ireland, Girvan factory - Nestlé Girvan educational biodiversity site
Warburtons Ltd - Discover Warburtons Wheat project

Environmental Leadership

Everyone is looking to produce more with less and with less impact on the environment. Our Environmental Leadership category is for companies that can meet either of the criteria below:

Embedding sustainability throughout a product from development right through to customer use and disposal
Ground-breaking initiatives to reduce your company's impact on the planet

Shortlist

Raynor Foods Ltd - Rosemary Gardens – Sustainable Food Systems
The Bay Fish and Chips - The Bay Fish and Chips
WWF/Coca-Cola Foundation Partnership - WWF/Coca-Cola Foundation Partnership
Nestlé UK&I - Leveraging Environmental Sustainability Through Collaboration
pladis UK&I - #RoadtoZero
Tate & Lyle Sugars - From sugar cane to building bricks: turning a by-product into a sustainable ingredient for artisan bricks

Exporter of the Year (sponsored by Santander)

British food and drink has never been more popular and exports continue to be a key area for growth. This category is for companies that are entering new markets, creating targeted products or growing sales in established markets. It is open to manufacturers but also to intermediary companies. The judges will look at achievement and ambition relative to the size of the company, not just the largest sales figures!

Shortlist

Ramsden International
Millennium Group
St Pierre Groupe Ltd
Belvoir Fruit Farms
Global Brands Ltd.
Mr Lee's Pure Foods Co.

Food and Drink Engineer of the Year (sponsored by Sheffield Hallam University)

Engineering skills are essential for our industry to grow and we want to recognise the people that will make this happen. Entrants can be nominated by a colleague, line manager or self-nominate.

Nominees must:

Be currently employed within the UK food and drink manufacturing sector
Have contributed to product development over a sustained period or be a promising new entrant to the industry who has led at least one significant project
Be a positive role model/ambassador within the company and externally
Go 'above and beyond' as an exceptional employee in both their work and behaviours

Shortlist

British Sugar - Grahame Poole
BV Dairy - Ryan Schouten
Mondelez International - Alexandra Agg
Coca-Cola European Partners - Craig Moore

Food and Drink Scientist of the Year (sponsored by IFST)

Scientific developments help to give our industry its competitive edge and we are fortunate to have many talented scientists working within our sector. This award will recognise someone who has made an exceptional contribution to the food and drink sector.

Nominees must:

Be currently employed within the UK food and drink manufacturing sector
Have contributed to product development over a sustained period or be a promising new entrant to the industry who has led at least one significant project
Be a positive role model/ambassador within the company and externally
Go 'above and beyond' as an exceptional employee in both their work and behaviours

Shortlist

RSSL - Carole Bingley
The Rowett Institute, University of Aberdeen and SEFARI Gateway - Alexandra Johnstone
Agrico UK Ltd - Steven Muir
Raynor Foods Ltd - Durran Eden
Unilever UK & Ireland - Jacquie de Silva
PepsiCo International - Suzanne Davies
KP Snacks - David Clark

Registered Nutritionist / Dietitian of the Year - New for 2019

Nutritionists and dietitians support our industry in improving the health of the nation, and are crucial to innovative new product development. We are fortunate to have many talented nutritionist's and dietitians working in our sector. This award will recognise someone who has made an exceptional contribution to the food and drink sector.

Shortlist

Chartwells, Compass UK&I - Meg Longworth
Nomad Foods - Lauren Woodley
Huel - James Collier
pladis UK&I - Hannah Theobald
Ella's Kitchen - Claire Baseley
Raynor Foods Ltd - Caroline Page
Premier Foods - Luise Kloster

HR Initiative

Employee recruitment and retention is important to a successful company, so show us how your company is a great place to work. Initiatives under this category must specifically benefit your employees and could include employee support, innovative training, workplace wellbeing or an 'above and beyond' approach to flexibility.

Shortlist

pladis UK&I - Positive minds
KP Snacks - Making mental health a priority at KP Snacks
Weetabix Food Company - Weetabix's Induction Experience
Birds Eye UK - Birds Eye UK Commercial Capability programme
Unilever - Unilever Integrated Talent Strategy
Mondelez International - BOOST Employee Wellbeing Programme
apetito UK Ltd - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Project

Innovation (sponsored by Santander)

Many companies within our industry do exceptional work, creating products or developing new ways of thinking and working. Entrants must show either of these:

Significant development achieved over the past three years in either product research and/or Development in the food supply chain eg developing new ingredients to cut waste or improve yield
A significant and innovative change to the way you do business eg processes, factory design or logistics

Shortlist

Made for Drink - Reclaim the pub for the local community via sublime snacks that pair perfectly with your favourite alcoholic tipples.
RSSL and The Meatless Farm Co - Meat Free Mince - affordable, unique and lovingly made from plants
Garçon Wines - Sustainable, flat wine bottle and game-changing 10 Flat Bottle Case
Company Shop Group - Unlocking the full potential in surplus – commercially, socially and environmentally
Raynor Foods Ltd - Rosemary Gardens ¬our on-site hydroponic, vertical, self-contained farm
KP Snacks - IWS: Making tomorrow better than today at KP Snacks
Hawkshead Relish - Hawkshead Relish Company Black Garlic Range

Rising Star (sponsored by PepsiCo UK)

We're looking for the bright sparks of the food and drink industry with this brand new award category. Open to entrants within their first five years in the industry at any academic and training level, the Rising Star category is for the people with the potential to go far. Nominations can be made by line managers or HR managers.

Shortlist

Birds Eye UK - James McComas
Birds Eye - Natalie Lee
British Sugar - Rasan Chandra
Mondelez International - Lydia Cordice
Premier Foods - Jessica Kelly
Mondelez International - Alexandra Agg

Emerging Business (sponsored by RSSL)

Have you started your business and experienced a significant growth in the past few years? Are you proud to be a thriving food or drink company in your area?

Growth can be through increased sales, capacity and resource expansion, developing new and innovative product lines or even impressive first-year achievements after starting from scratch. In short, if you think your business is fabulous, enter and tell us why.

Shortlist