How you can win a food and drink manufacturing Oscar

There’s still plenty of time to submit your winning entry in the Food and Drink Manufacturing Excellence Awards (FMEAs), ahead of the July 17 deadline. So, here’s how to impress the judges and bring home a much-coveted food and drink manufacturing Oscar.

The FMEA judges don’t need glossy presentations – simply winning stories about how food and drink manufacturing managers managed their production processes and businesses for maximum benefit.

Good presentation certainly helps, but more important is supplying the judges with the nuts and bolts details of how managers boosted profit and/or cut costs, while stepping up product quality and service to customers.

The judges receive many entries, so focus on your key achievements and explain how delivering them by planning, determination and staff involvement.

Get your entry noticed

Three top tips to get your entry noticed are: tell a story, be specific and show us the results.

Tell the judges a story: entries that really stand out are those that tell a story. Has your business been confronted by a specific challenge, set back or opportunity? What did you do to overcome the challenge or grasp the new opportunity in food and drink manufacturing?

How did you engage your staff to become part of the solution to boosting efficiencies or cutting costs? How do you harvest the good ideas from the shopfloor to turn them into profitable reality that benefits the bottom line.

Be specific. All details submitted on an entry form are treated in the strictest confidence. So, don’t hold back. Tell us precisely what you did and how you did it. Again, the judges want to hear detail in order to separate the winning entries from the very good ones. So, how did you deliver productivity gains while shaving costs?

Driving your business

How to win

• Tell the judges a story

• Be specific

• Show the judges the results

Show the judges the results: Britons tend to be modest but please break this habit in your Food Manufacture.co.uk entry form. Tell us what all your hard work – and that of your teams – achieved in driving your business to even greater success. All information supplied in the entry form will be held in the strictest confidence.

It’s worth a little effort and all awards are free-to-enter. Winners of previous awards – such as Iglo Foods – report a massive boost to team morale and enhanced profile with customers and suppliers. Last year, Dawn Meats won the top title.

So, why not prepare your entry today. It must reach us by July 17 to be included in this year’s awards. And, who knows? Your entry might set you on the path to picking up a Food Manufacture Excellence Award at the carnival-themed gala celebration evening at the Lancaster Hotel, West London on November 3.

In addition to being a celebration of all that’s best in food and drink manufacturing, it’s a great way to network with industry contacts, clients and suppliers.

Submit your free entry here. Good luck and see you at the Lancaster Hotel in November!

Meet the judges

 Chairman of the judges: Paul Wilkinson, chairman Improve/National Skills Academy

  • Jonathan Bayne, food technologist – ambient grocery, Waitrose
  • Simon Chattock, head of vendor assurance, Compass Group UK and Ireland
  • Jean Feord, food industry consultant
  • Dale Fiddy, sales and marketing director, NFT Distribution Operations
  • Lorraine Hendle, md retail and manufacturing, Food Manufacture’s publisher William Reed Business Media
  • Justine Fosh, chief executive, National Skills Academy
  • Andy Marsh, director Suiko
  • Wayne Morley, food innovation consultant
  • Steve Osborn, food and beverage consultant, The Aurora Ceres Partnership.
  • Rick Pendrous, editor Food Manufacture
  • Alan Speight, consultant Food Solutions Associates
  • Mike Stones, group editor Food Manufacture