Kiwi producers who grow or craft food and drink with love and passion are invited to participate in the prestigious 2024 Outstanding Food Producer Awards.
With the introduction of new branding, a streamlined online entry process and the incorporation of a new Chocolate category to integrate the NZ Chocolate Awards within the 2024 Outstanding Food Producer Awards, these Awards promise more for New Zealand food and drink producers and food lovers than ever before.
Building on the success of the 2023 Awards, in this eighth year, Awards owners Kathie Bartley and Nicola McConnell believe the enhancements will elevate the Awards and reinforce its position as the country’s pre-eminent food Awards.
The updated branding is bright, vibrant, fun and energetic. Its colour is a nod to sunshine and the natural environment which grows outstanding produce and it recognises the efforts of producers by featuring them in many of the communications. Additionally, organisers have taken the opportunity to streamline the award name by removing New Zealand from the title, as they say with the Awards held in New Zealand it’s obvious!
Kathie Bartley explained they continuously review the Awards and challenge themselves to make it better and further support Aotearoa’s food and drink producers. “We believe our focus on communications across the year through events, our ‘Outstanding Eats’ newsletter and social media offers great value for producers. It provides multiple opportunities for us to introduce local Outstanding Food Producers to Kiwi food lovers.”
Nicola McConnell says deciding to integrate the NZ Chocolate Awards into the Outstanding Food Producer Awards was a tough decision but it was the right one. “We’ve created a special category for chocolate, which means NZ chocolate has an annual award and will be eligible to be named Outstanding Food Producer Awards Supreme Champion. We have built a community of thousands of foodies who we communicate with regularly via Outstanding Food Producers and chocolate makers and chocolatiers will receive increased visibility by exposure to this audience. Additionally, chocolate makers can now engage with and learn from their food industry peers in other categories, promoting knowledge exchange and potential collaborations.”
Outstanding Food Producer Awards is fortunate again to have NZ food industry legend, Lauraine Jacobs lead assessment of the products. She will work with a panel of the country’s leading food industry professionals who will judge the 2024 Awards at Homeland, The Food Embassy for Aotearoa & The Pacific on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 February 2024. Medal winners will be announced on Tuesday 19 March 2024, with the highly anticipated announcement of the 2024 Champions scheduled for Thursday 18 April 2024.
Medals will be awarded in gold, silver, and bronze, with top medal winners vying for Category Champion Awards. Other Champion Awards include NZ Life & Leisure Spirit of New Zealand, FMCG Business Outstanding New Product, Farro Outstanding New Boutique Product, Outstanding Sustainability and Emerging Business. The highest-scoring product overall will be crowned the Outstanding Food Producer Awards Supreme Champion 2024.
A heartfelt thanks goes to the Awards partners: NZ Life & Leisure, Coast, Emerson’s, Farro, FMCG Business, Label & Litho, Seafood New Zealand, and Marvellous Marketing.
About the Outstanding Food Producer Awards
The Outstanding Food Producer Awards celebrate the best of New Zealand’s food and drink producers, recognising excellence and innovation in the industry. First run in 2018 the Awards have become a prestigious platform for showcasing the diverse and exceptional offerings of Kiwi food and drink producers. Each year more than three million Outstanding Food Producer Award medal stickers are affixed to the top products providing Kiwi consumers with an assurance that they are buying a quality, local product that has been assessed by experts.
Entry is online at outstandingfoodproducer.co.nz until Friday 09 February 2024.
