Food Manufacture Excellence Awards deadline draws near

All entrants must finish their online forms by 30 July to have a chance of winning. And there are more chances than ever before, as the awards have been expanded to include new main categories and new specialist awards.

Previous categories in ambient, bakery, dairy, frozen foods and meat, poultry & seafood are all appearing again this year.

On top of that, the drinks category has been split in two to recognise achievements in soft drinks and alcoholic beverages.

A foodservice category has been launched for manufacturers specialising in the dynamic foodservice sector, whose customers may be in hospitality, the restaurant trade or public services, such as schools or hospitals.

Ingredients award

A main category award specifically for ingredients manufacturers has also been introduced. In addition, chilled and fresh produce categories have been combined.

Two streams have also been created, one for small to medium-sized enterprises whose turnover is less than £10m and one for businesses whose sales are above that level.

Only overall winners in each of the main categories are eligible to be considered for the ultimate accolade of Food Manufacture Company of the Year.

Four new Industry Initiative Awards and four new People Awards have also been launched. For details of all the categories, see the box below.

Last year’s overall winner was SK Chilled Foods, which also won Chilled Manufacturing Company of the Year. Other winners included Kendal Nutricare (Ambient Manufacturing Company of the Year); The Bread Factory (Bakery Manufacturing Company of The Year); Coca-Cola European Partners (Beverages Manufacturing Company of The Year); Norseland (Dairy Manufacturing Company of the Year); Willowbrook Foods (Fresh Produce Manufacturing Company of The Year); Dalehead Foods (Meat, Poultry and Seafood Manufacturing Company of the Year).

Bigger than ever

Held on 7 November this year at London’s Hilton on Park Lane, the awards are now bigger than ever, having been introduced 18 years ago to benchmark, reward and celebrate excellence in food and drink manufacturing.

The independent judging panel includes experts with combined experience of more than 100 years in the food industry. You have to be in them to win them, so don’t delay: enter today. The process is now purely handled online, making it easier than ever.

Visit our dedicated FMEA website to learn more and start your entry. Hurry: the entry deadline is 30 July, which may seem like a long way off now, but will come around quicker than you think.

Or, if you are curious to explore the considerable benefits of sponsoring a category, there’s more information on how to start that process on the website too. Watch this space for more details.

This year's Food Manufacture Excellence Awards are kindly sponsored by KDH Projects and Systems Integration.