The Hive Awards are live! Food & Drink Business has launched its inaugural industry excellence awards and is calling on all processing and packaging innovators in the food and beverage sector to get on board and submit entries.
There are nine categories, with awards for Best Ingredient, Processing, Packaging, NPD, and Local Manufacturing. There’s recognition of Business Excellence for large companies and SMEs, a start-up Rising Star, and an industry Gamechanger.
The Best Processing Award will recognise the best project that displays a product or process innovation and/or application. Processing has been a cornerstone of food and drink since preserving began and is integral to our future food systems. It has been the driver for developing methods that improve shelf life, texture, nutritional integrity and of course, taste, while also addressing ways to be more efficient, sustainable, and reduce waste.
The Best Packaging Award will recognise the best innovation and/or application of packaging for food and/or beverage products. Packaging plays a vital role for food and drinks, from contamination protection, extending shelf life, driving sustainability goals and a circular economy to creating an identity for a particular product or brand.
Food & Drink Business editor, Kim Berry, said, “In developing the awards, we wanted the name to reflect the complexity, inter-connectedness, ambition, and tirelessness of Australia’s food and drink manufacturing sector. We couldn’t go past the concept of bees and their hive, a flawless system that runs 24/7, driven by a dedicated and determined workforce to consistently deliver a product to the highest standard. And so, the Hive Awards were born.”
Founding Sponsors
In its first year, the awards have secured strong support from the industry, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia signing on as The Hive Awards Platinum sponsor. Seven industry leading companies are also valued sponsors, including APPMA members Combilift (Gold sponsor), Heat and Control and Trimatt (Silver sponsors), and Process Partners (Bronze sponsor). Other sponsors include and Hydroflux (Gold), Hawkins Watts (Silver) and Mintel (Bronze).
If your company wants to showcase its capabilities and success in a processing or packaging advancement or project, and raise your profile in Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, then click here to enter.
Top 5 reasons why you should enter
If you need further encouragement, here’s our top reasons to get involved in the very first Hive Awards program.
Highlight achievements and experience
Judged by a highly regarded panel of influential industry professionals and experts, a Hive Award recognises the effort, passion, and expertise of your company and how it is one of the industry’s top performers driving the sector forward.
Stand out from the crowd
The Hive Awards are designed to celebrate industry excellence and increase the profile and credibility of your company that can unlock new opportunities in the sector. Securing a Hive Award will set you and your business apart from your peers and strengthen your position in the industry.
Impress investors and stakeholders
The Hive Awards offer the vehicle to shine a light on a project or product that may not have received the attention it deserved and the impact it had on business growth. In turn, it shows investors and stakeholders the calibre of work being done, acknowledges your team, and may even attract more investment down the track.
Increase recruitment and retention profile
An ongoing industry challenge is recruiting the right people and retaining them. The Hive Awards provides the opportunity to raise recognition of your company, showing you are one of the top operators in the sector and increasing your attractiveness to high-quality, discerning candidates.
Benchmark with other companies
The Hive Awards night is an opportunity to raise your company’s profile but also hear about what other companies are doing and how they are doing it, which may inspire new ideas and practices for your operations.
Head to thehiveawards.com.au for all the program requirements, categories and scoring rubric. Entries are open until 23 February at 12 noon.
