Food Manufacture Excellence Awards 2025 open for entries

The Food Manufacture Excellence Awards has been commemorating champions in UK food and drink processing for more than 20 years.

Each year, we welcome hundreds of industry professionals to gather in celebration – and after a big shake-up in our award categories and judging for 2024, we’re delighted to introduce a new prize for 2025, reflecting the ever-changing landscape of the food and drink sector.

You can enter Food Manufacture’s prestigious awards here​​, with the ceremony to be held on 6 February 2025 at the London Hilton, Bankside.

What is the Health Hero Award?

With the UK in the grip of an obesity crisis and health at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Food Manufacture is looking for businesses which have made significant strides in promoting consumer health and well-being.

This could be through an innovative product launch or even a campaign. Entrants must be able to back up their claims, showing a measurable impact they have made towards the UK’s health.

To help narrow down the finalists and choose an ultimate winner, Food Manufacture will be supported by several health and nutrition specialists, including Corrine Toyn, Louis Bedwell, and Caroline Page, among other notable industry figureheads.

These three will also be lending their expertise to several other categories up for grabs.

Meet the health experts judging

Corrine Toyn​ is a registered dietitian and founder of Chickpea Marketing, a marketing and nutrition consultancy on a mission to grow healthy food, beverage and wellness brands.

Toyn has worked in the food and drink industry for 6 years, previously working for Abbott and M&S. She also led the UK healthcare professional marketing team at Benecol Ltd, owned by the Raisio Group.

She utilises her dietetic insight to help brands connect with health-conscious consumers and champion evidence-based nutrition through the power of marketing.

Toyn is also passionate about raising the profile of dietitians and nutritionists working in the food and drink industry and hosts The Dietitian Café podcast.

Meanwhile, in her spare time, she volunteers as the chair of the British Dietetic Association Industry Specialist Group.

“As a judge, I’ll be evaluating how companies identify opportunities and resolve challenges to achieve their strategic vision, demonstrating adaptability and forward-thinking in the industry. I am particularly excited about the introduction of the new ‘Health Hero’ award and I look forward to seeing how companies are innovating in this space to make our food environment a healthier and more sustainable place,”​ Toyn commented.

Louis Bedwell​ joined Future Food Movement in 2024 and supports the business in scaling its membership across the food industry. The Future Food Movement exists to support food companies in closing the climate skills gap and has reached more than one million people, supporting companies like Sainsbury's, Greencore, and SSP, among many others.

He previously served as managing director of the industry's leading innovation accelerator, where he met with more than 1,500 purpose-led startups each year and helped market leaders invest in emerging technologies and innovations.

"Entrants should demonstrate innovative approaches and significant impacts on health within the food manufacturing industry. We seek those who show clear, measurable success in promoting genuine health and well-being through their products or initiatives. Winning entries will combine creativity with solid results, highlighting exceptional contributions to improving health standards,”​ commented Bedwell.

Caroline Page​ is the supply chain and nutrition lead at Raynor Foods. She is a registered nutritionist and has a BSc (Hons) degree in Nutrition and Public Health, with technical experience in the food industry within ready meals and the food to go sector, including 9 years working at Raynor Foods.  

She is passionate about how the food industry can impact and improve the health of their consumers through their products and innovation.

“I'm looking for someone passionate and driven in their field, with an ambition to improve their sector.  I’m especially looking for someone focused with health and wellbeing at the forefront of their ideology and work they do, with a keen interest on improving the health of their consumers,”​ commented Page.

To find out more and to enter the Food Manufacture Awards, visit: www.foodmanawards.co.uk​.

Entries will close on the 23 September 2024.

This event is kindly supported by headline sponsor and business and accountancy firm, Menzies, and event sponsors Niras - a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy - Quor Systems - software management experts and providers, and Watermill Press - a BRCIOP Food Packaging approved label convertor.