What's up for grabs at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards 2025?

Regarded as the Oscars for food and drink processing, the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards is on the lookout for the best of the best, with entries for 2025’s event having opened last week.

This year, there are 15 categories up for grabs, including a brand-new accolade – The Health Hero Award. Visit our dedicated awards website to find out more about to enter.​​

Manufacturer of the Year

The Manufacturer of the Year award celebrates excellence in the food and beverage processing industry.

This award is open to any UK-based (or with operations in this market) food/drink manufacturing company of any size, from frozen, to confectionery, to ambient, to alcohol, to pet food. The winner of this title must show they have gone above and beyond as a producer whatever their category is. 

This award recognises a manufacturer that has demonstrated outstanding performance in product quality, innovation, sustainability, and overall business success. The recipient is a leader in their field, setting benchmarks for excellence and driving positive change within the industry.

This category is part of the five awards which involve a second tier of judging, with successful applicants invited to present in front of a panel online. The finalists and winner will be decided at this point. 

Employer of the Year

The Employer of the Year award honours a company that has demonstrated exceptional commitment to creating a supportive, inclusive and motivating workplace environment.

This award recognises food and drink businesses that prioritise employee well-being, foster professional development and implement innovative HR practices that contribute to a thriving workforce.

You will need to provide evidence of your efforts towards promoting a positive workplace culture, investment into development and training, implementation of policies and practices that enhance employee satisfaction and engagement, along with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace.

Future Talent Award

This award celebrates the exceptional achievements and potential of young professionals and emerging leaders in the food and drink processing industry.

The prize will be awarded to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding talent, innovation, personal drive and dedication early in their careers, making significant contributions to their organisations and the industry as a whole.

To be eligible to enter, you must be under 30 years old in a non-administrative role within a food or drink manufacturer or undertaking an apprenticeship at the company.

Entrants should be nominated by a colleague, ideally their line manager, who should show the positive contribution they have made to their employer, examples where they have demonstrated personal drive, together with any other admirable personal qualities and characteristics they may possess.

This category is part of the five awards which involve a second tier of judging, with successful applicants invited to present in front of a panel online. The finalists and winner will be decided at this point.

Site Team of the Year

The Site Team of the Year Award recognises an outstanding team at a UK food and beverage manufacturing site that has demonstrated exceptional teamwork, innovation and operational excellence.

This award celebrates the collective achievements of site teams who have significantly contributed to the success of their facility through collaboration, efficiency and dedication to quality and safety standards.

Entrants must show the team’s key achievements and how these benefited the overall business in terms of growth in sales, profit margin or production or working innovatively. They should show how well they worked together to overcome challenges and meet team targets/objectives. Please provide examples of what individuals have contributed to make the team successful.

Business Leader of the Year

The Business Leader of the Year prize honours an exceptional leader who has demonstrated visionary leadership, strategic acumen, and a profound impact on their organisation and industry. This award recognises individuals who have driven significant growth, fostered innovation, and inspired their teams to achieve outstanding results.

This is open to C-suite level only. Entrants must present how their business has grown and developed under their leadership, their current business plans, where they have successfully invested and expanded, as well as their strategic vision for the future. The winner will be able to demonstrate resilience, innovation and clear direction.

This category is part of the five awards which involve a second tier of judging, with successful applicants invited to present in front of a panel online. The finalists and winner will be decided at this point.

ESG Excellence Award

The ESG Award recognises companies that excel in their commitment to environmental sustainability, social responsibility, and strong governance practices. This award honours organisations that integrate ESG principles into their business strategy, demonstrating leadership in creating positive impacts for the environment, society, and their stakeholders.

Entrants should be able to provide concrete examples of ways in which they have embedded environmental social and corporate governance into their organisation’s framework. The successful entrant will be able to demonstrate excellence in all three areas of environmental preservation, consideration of human interdependence, and logistics and defined processes for running a business.  

Collaboration and Partnership Award

This award celebrates outstanding achievements in collaboration and partnership within the food and drink industry. It recognises companies that have successfully formed strategic alliances and joint ventures that have led to significant benefits for the parties involved, including innovation, market expansion, improved sustainability, and enhanced operational efficiency.

Partnerships can be between two manufacturers or include collaborations between processers and customers or service providers, including retailers, packaging or equipment suppliers, energy or food safety consultancies and contract packers. But the collaboration must go above and beyond and demonstrate a real difference to the wider industry, employees and/or UK economy.

One business of the two must be UK-based.

Food and drink manufacturers can enter or their partners can enter on their behalf. In each case, both partners should be named. Entries citing only one half of the partnership will not be valid.

Processers gain recognition alongside their third-party partners. Examples might be a retailer collaborating with a supplier on bespoke technology; an engineering firm executing a bespoke project to improve production line performance; an IT provider introducing a tailored solution integrated into existing systems to digitise records, improving traceability, visibility and efficiency; a warehouse or logistics provider designing a unique storage or distribution solution offering clear business benefits. Awards are given to manufacturers, but ideally jointly collected by them and a representative of their partner.

The entrant must have benefited from the results of the partnership within the past 18 months.                           

International Trade Award

The International Trade Award celebrates outstanding achievements by UK-based food and drink processers in the global marketplace. This prestigious prize recognises a company's exceptional performance in exporting products, expanding and diversifying into international markets, and contributing to the UK's reputation for high-quality food and drink.

Entrants must demonstrate significant growth and development and market penetration in overseas markets, particularly focusing on how they overcame key obstacles.

The nominee must be a UK-based food and drink company and able to demonstrate proven success in international markets.

Food Integrity Champion

Although food safety remains a vital word in any manufacturer’s lexicon, the responsibilities to deliver on multiple fronts has become ever-more evident. As such, food integrity has become the key must-have – that the food we produce is safe, authentic, nutritious, sustainable and ethical.

The Food Integrity award recognises a food and/or drink company that has embraced integrity throughout its entire supply chain.

We are looking for a business that truly champions transparency, ethical sourcing and consumer trust, alongside fostering a food safety culture among all employees. The winner of this accolade will be setting a benchmark for fellow industry players.

Emerging Business Award

The Emerging Business Award celebrates the achievements and potential of a promising new entrant in the food and drink industry. This award recognises a startup or recently established business that has demonstrated innovation, growth and resilience in its early stages of development.

Entrants must have been operating for a maximum of three years. 

Outstanding Community Engagement

This prize celebrates exceptional efforts by organisations in the food sector for engaging with and supporting their local communities. It recognises initiatives that have made a significant positive impact on community well-being, including activities that promote nutrition, education, sustainability and/or social responsibility.

Entrants must be able to show clear examples of how they have collaborated with a charity or initiative, demonstrated success in leading their own programme/project to make a difference, or encouraged involvement of their employees to get involved in a project.

The Innovation Award

This award is all about new and exciting ideas coming to fruition which have the potential to revolutionise the food and drink industry and its customers.

We’re looking for pioneering research or developed innovative products, processes, or successful technology transformations that are making a big impact.

You must be a food/drink manufacturer to enter this award, but we welcome you entering in partnership with a research institute or technology provider, or other partner should this be more appropriate. The award will be given to (and ideally collected by) the manufacturer.

Factory Manager of the Year

This award recognises an outstanding food/drink factory manager who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, innovation and operational excellence. It celebrates managers who have significantly contributed to the success of their food manufacturing facility, ensuring high standards of productivity, quality, safety and employee satisfaction.

We’re looking for a factory manager who is passionate about their work, cares about their team’s well-being and has a proven track record of success. 

This category is part of the five awards which involve a second tier of judging, with successful applicants invited to present in front of a panel online. The finalists and winner will be decided at this point.

Supply Chain Excellence

The Supply Chain Excellence award recognises exemplary performance and innovation in the management of food and drink supply chains.

This award celebrates companies that have demonstrated outstanding efficiency, reliability, sustainability, and innovation in sourcing, production, distribution, and delivery of food and drink products.

Entries for the supply chain excellence award will need to show they have considered and built in resilience, agility, flexibility and transparency throughout their entire chain. Entrants will also be able to show how they are managing, measuring and improving their supply chain to further push for excellence.  

Health Hero Award

With the UK in the grip of an obesity crisis and health at the forefront of everyone’s minds, we’re 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 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, alongside event sponsors - Niras - multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy - Quor Systems - the software management experts and providers, and Watermill Press - a BRCIOP Food Packaging approved label convertor.