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.
Who can enter?
- Food and drink manufacturers
- Retailers, producers, growers, hospitality
- Sectors working with the food and drink supply chain including researchers,
distributors, health, local authorities and education providers
2019 Awards Categories
Apprentice of the Year - CLOSED
Brand launch of the year - CLOSED
Campaign of the Year - CLOSED
Community Partner - CLOSED
Diet and Health - CLOSED
Education Initiative – CLOSED
Environmental Leadership - CLOSED
Exporter of the Year - CLOSED
Food and Drink Engineer of the Year – CLOSED
Food and Drink Scientist of the Year – CLOSED
Registered Nutritionist/Dietitian of the Year - CLOSED
HR Initiative - CLOSED
Innovation - CLOSED
Rising Star - CLOSED
Emerging Business - CLOSED
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.
Download entry
form
View the
2018 winner's case study
Have you considered entering our other individual awards? Engineer of the
Year, Scientist of the Year or Rising Star
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.
Download entry
form
View the
2018 winner's case study
Have you considered entering our Innovation category, or Campaign of the Year award?
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.
Download entry
form
View the
2018 winner's case study
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.
Download entry
form
View
the 2018 winner's case study
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*
The category is open to all sizes of companies and achievement will be judged on
the following criteria:
- The business case. As well as being the right thing to do, how did your project
fit in with the organisation's wider objectives and business plan
- Research and evidence. All submissions should clearly show not only the need
for the project but also the research, evidence and testing used to support the
project
- The reach of the project. Each submission should clearly show the audience
reached and how the change benefits the consumer
- The development process. Whether it is an original concept or extension of
existing work, the judges need to see the steps from concept to final project
delivery.
*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.
Download entry form
If your initiative is a health-based community intervention, have you considered
entering our Community Partner award?
If you are launching your brand, have you considered entering our Brand
Launch of the Year award or Emerging Business award?
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.
Download entry
form
View the
2018 winner's case study
Have you considered entering our HR Initiative award?
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
Download
entry form
View the
2018 winner's case study
Exporter of the Year
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!
Download entry
form
View the 2018
winner's case study
Food and Drink Engineer of the Year
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
Download entry form
View the 2018
winner's case study
Have you considered entering our other individual awards? Apprentice of
the Year, Scientist of the Year, Rising
Star.
Food and Drink Scientist of the Year
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
Download entry form
View the 2018
winner's case study
Have you considered entering our other individual awards? Apprentice of
the Year, Food and Drink Engineer of the Year, Rising
Star.
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.
Nominees must:
- Be currently employed within the UK food and drink manufacturing sector
- A Registered Dietitian or Registered with the Association for Nutrition (as a
Registered or
Associate Nutritionist)
- Have contributed to the company's efforts to support diet and health
initiatives over a sustained period or be a promising new entrant to the
industry who has
led at least one diet and health related 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
Download
entry form
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.
Download entry form
View the
2018 winner's case study
Innovation
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
Download entry form
View the
2018 winner's case study
If you are launching your brand, have you considered entering our Brand
Launch of the Year award?
Rising Star
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.
Download entry form
View the 2018
winner's case study
Emerging Business
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.
Download entry
form
View the 2018 winner's case study
Tweet us!
Follow us at @Foodanddrinkfed. If you want to
catch up with our FDF Awards tweets, then simply search Twitter by using the
hash tag
#FDFAwards.