Bord Bia - National Organic Awards

Bord Bia is calling on Irish organic farmers, growers, producers and manufacturers to submit their entries for the National Organic Awards, taking place on Thursday, October 13^th.

The National Organic Awards celebrate the achievements of Irish organic food and drink producers and is held every two years in association with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. The 2022 National Organic Awards will take place on Thursday, October 13th, 2022 in the Bord Bia Global Hub in Dublin. This event aims to recognise developments within the organic sector across seven key categories, judged by a panel of experts.

The winners will be announced at an award ceremony that celebrates the best of organic food from Ireland. Judging will take place virtually in September before the awards; a wide selection of organic produce from all over the country will be represented through the seven categories:

Retail: To include products currently available through Irish retail channels (including seasonal products that were available in retail over the past 12 months). Judging criteria will include organic brand story, market opportunity, packaging and brand communication and relevance to Bord Bia consumer lifestyle trends.
Private label: To include products currently available through Irish retail/food service channels (including seasonal products that were available over the past 12 months) retail/food service products in this category must be sold under the private label (own label) brand. Judging criteria will include organic, private label brand story, market opportunity, packaging and brand communication and relevance to Bord Bia consumer lifestyle trends.
Export: With the export market for Irish organic products of growing importance to Irish organic producers, this award looks to recognise these products. This award is open to products being sold in the export market. Judging criteria will include export opportunity identification, evidence of export success, packaging and branding export adaptability and overcoming export challenges.
New and Innovative: Open to new products or packaging innovation launched between January 2021 and July 2022. Judging criteria will include market insights, evidence of innovation for product or packaging and evidence of market success.
E-commerce: Open to products being sold directly to consumers via e-commerce e.g., company website, third party shop, social media shop etc. (online sales via Irish retailer websites are not eligible) Judging criteria will include sales analysis and on-line analytics, success of customer recruitment.
Marketing campaign: The Marketing Campaign Award is for a producer that has developed a comprehensive marketing campaign that has differentiated itself from competitors by using creative marketing communications through a single or combination of media channels. Judging criteria will include review of marketing campaign strategy and results, performance analysis and media options used.
Business in the community: This category will acknowledge the achievements of businesses in their local communities. Producers should submit details of an example of one corporate social responsibility initiative which they have undertaken. Judging criteria will include review of overall business in the community initiative, how the initiative links with brand/product story, the lasting impact of the initiative and its link to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Prizes:

Capability development delivers business growth by embedding best practice commercial marketing knowledge, practices, and skills within organisations. Bord Bia have a wide range of Client Capability supports with each of these fully focused to deliver commercial opportunities for participating companies. Key supports available focus on; strategy development, customer management, routes to market, and branding. Winners of the 2022 Organic awards will get a one to one session with our Client Capability team who will help develop a bespoke package of supports to meet individual company needs up to the value of €5,000.

Key dates:

31st August: Closing date for applications

26 & 27th September: Photography of shortlisted producers and products

13th October: Award Ceremony

Donald Williamson

Donald is a business consultant specialising in business transformation, organisational design, strategy development, building sustainability into business performance and building high performance teams. Donald has over 40 years’ experience in the Irish Grocery and Licensed trade and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the judging panel. He was the General Manager of Birds Eye Ireland leading the Irish leg of its acquisition of Goodfellas Pizza and previously work as Commercial Director Britvic / C&C Ireland and as Head of Sales for Coca-Cola bottlers. Donald has also served as Chairman of the Consumer Foods Council in IBEC.

Janine Kennedy

Janine Kennedy is a Canadian chef and journalist. She is currently serving as Acting Food and Consumer editor at Irish Country Living. After obtaining a degree in political science, Janine spent several years travelling, teaching, eating and writing throughout Asia before attending Toronto’s prestigious George Brown Chef School. She has over a decade’s experience in culinary arts, restaurant and food service operations, artisanal product development and food-focused journalism. She now lives on her family’s small dairy farm in North Tipperary with her husband, three daughters, two cats, two dogs and 60 cows. When she isn’t cooking or writing, she’s on the road for Irish Country Living; meeting farmers, artisans and food producers or hiking and fishing with her kids.

Joe Hyland

Joe Hyland is an accomplished business leader with more than thirty-five years executive experience in senior management roles primarily in the Agri Food sector. He has successfully managed all aspects of business development from start-up, talent recruitment, production & operations, commercial model building, capital investment projects together with third party acquisitions. In this context, Joe has secured business & built relationships with major retailers, food service & manufacturing companies in Ireland, most EU member states, Asia & North America. Having served as managing director on several company boards during his career Joe was central to formulating & delivering business strategies with a strong record of achievement. He also served on a range of State & EU representative bodies, lobbying extensively on behalf of industry both in Dublin & Brussels.

Martyn Lee

Martyn is the Executive chef, Manager Product Development at Waitrose & Partners, driving food innovation and creativity within the partnership and product development team, and has previously been Executive chef at Tesco PLC. With prior experience in developing products as a supplier to all UK major multiples as well as a role as the Head Training and Development Chef for a national chain of bars and restaurants, he brings a wealth of experience to the panel within creating products, brands and ranges to the UK and Ireland markets.

Brid Torrades

Brid Torrades recognised the wealth of Irish food and culinary experience before most and has defended artisan food practices and natural food resources at a European level, as well as promoting and participating in food education initiatives. Her career as a chef has spanned four decades in a number of cafes and restaurants across Ireland. She has also taught cookery and culinary nutrition at all levels. Brid graduated with an MSc in Applied Culinary Nutrition in 2017 and is further pursuing her interest in food production having just finished year one of MSc in Organic Farming. In recent years, Brid has started farming, with a herd of Dexter Cattle, and is converting her mother’s family farm in Co Cavan to Organic status.

National Organic Awards 2022