Food Manufacture Excellence Awards: new judges on board

Joining Millard also for the first time will be Ann Savage, food technical adviser at recipe box business Gousto.

Geoff Eaton, chairman of New England Seafood International and former chief operating officer at Premier Foods, has confirmed his participation as chair of the judging panel for the third year in a row.

Other judges include Jon Poole, chief executive of the Institute of Food Science and Technology, and Richard Clothier, managing director of cheesemaker Wyke Farms. Wyke Farms won the Dairy Manufacturing Company of The Year Award​​ at the 2013 Food Manufacture​ Excellence Awards.

Online entry for the industry Oscars opened on 5 July and will close on 6 September​​. They are now simpler to enter than ever, companies can enter as many categories as they want and there are two new categories this year: the Sustainability Award and the Future Talent of The Year Award. Read our handy guide on how to win​​. For more information and to enter, visit www.foodmanawards.co.uk​​.

Due to the Government's COVID-19 restrictions, this year's winners were announced in a virtual ceremony​ ​on 11 February.

Previous winners​

Previous overall winners have included meat processing giant ABP UK, breakfast cereal company Weetabix and food-to-go business Greencore.

Not only can the winners display their trophies for visitors to admire, but their achievement will put them on our editorial team’s radar and open the possibility for further editorial coverage. That’s in addition to videos posted on FoodManufacture.co.uk in the days following their win.

Winners don’t have to be perfect, nor do they have to be investing vast sums of cash. They simply have to have a great story to tell.

For example, past winners have swayed the judges by resurrecting factories previously gutted by fire, dramatically increasing production capacity, launching significant product development programmes, successfully implementing major technology upgrades and executing major business turnaround strategies.

The event does not primarily focus on new product development, but on excellence in manufacturing and is open to all food and drink own-label and branded processors with a manufacturing base in the UK (administrative offices or depots don't count).