This award is for any food/drink start-up businesses and celebrates the achievements and potential of a promising new entrant in the food and drink industry. This award recognises a start-up or recently established business that has demonstrated innovation, growth and resilience in its early stages of development.

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 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.

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.

New for 2026, the Engineer of the Year award celebrates the often-unsung heroes behind the scenes of food and drink manufacturing. Engineers are not only problem-solvers—they are innovators, collaborators, and trusted partners in driving operational excellence.

This award recognises an individual who goes beyond simply fixing equipment. We’re looking for someone who demonstrates outstanding technical expertise, a proactive and solutions-driven mindset, and a genuine commitment to supporting their team and customers. Whether you’re nominating a colleague or putting yourself forward, we want to hear how engineering excellence is making a real difference in your business.

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 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.

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.

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 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. You must be a food/drink manufacturer to be eligible.

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.

Awarded to a business that has made a significant impact in advancing sustainable food practices. The green food champion leads the way in reducing environmental impact. This could include souring locally, energy-efficient operations, waste reduction, or the adoption of regenerative or organic farming, to name a few.

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. You must be a food/drink manufacturer to be eligible.

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.