It's BOOM time!
The Soil Association’s prestigious Best of Organic Market (BOOM) awards return in 2019.
Entries for the UK’s only organic food and drink awards will open on January 7 – and independent retailers are invited to pitch in.
Run by the Soil Association, the BOOM awards are a chance to celebrate the very best of organic food, drink, hospitality and innovation, as well as the pioneers shaping a more sustainable food system and providing food as it should be.
Last seen in 2017, the awards celebrate what’s currently happening in the market, as well as the innovators shaping the future of food and farming, sponsored by Abel & Cole.
The awards are open to all organic producers and businesses across a wide range of categories. Prizes are not just awarded for products found in the shops – increasing numbers of restaurants and cafes are now using organic, while box schemes and local independent retailers go from strength to strength. The BOOM awards recognise the very best of these, with awards including best independent retailer, best supermarket and best box scheme.
Food and drink categories, judged blind purely on taste and quality, include:
- Categories for fresh produce, dairy, bakery, meat, fish and poultry
- Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
- Baby and children’s products
- New categories for 2019 include organic specialist diet and best organic snack
A record number of entries in 2017 saw Bristol’s Better Food win the independent retailer award with other winners including Da Mhile Distillery, Waitrose, Abel & Cole and Booja Booja’s hazelnut chocolate truffles.
Voting on the awards will be independent panels of expert judges from the organic industry, food writers, chefs and bloggers. Also joining the Soil Association to celebrate the brightest organic businesses in the UK will be a high-profile ‘BOOMbassador’ – set to be announced in early 2019 – who will take part in the judging, as well as hosting the prestigious award ceremony on June 26 at Oval Space, London.
Entries for the BOOM awards close on February 28.
Clare McDermott, Business Development Director for Soil Association Certification, said: “The BOOM awards get bigger and bigger each year and are our chance to make some noise about organic, celebrating the amazing food and drink that organic offers.
“These awards are a UK-wide showcase of organic, so I’d encourage any organic business to enter and give themselves a chance to be recognised as the best that organic has to offer.”
A full list of categories, sub-categories and how to enter will be available on the Soil Association website from January 2019: www.soilassociation.org/boomawards
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