BOOM awards categories

Best of Organic Market awards categories and criteria

What's new for 2025?

For the 2025 BOOMs, we have improved categories for Food and Drink Product, Beauty and Wellbeing, and Fashion and Textiles. We have also introduced new awards to support our vision of Organic for All, making organic affordable, available and accessible for everyone. 

Sub-categories have been replaced with more distinctive individual categories. Judges will have the option to award up to three highly commended awards, alongside the gold winner, who will receive a trophy at the awards event.

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Organic Food and Drink Product Awards

We have 27 organic Food and Drink Product Awards, which will showcase the absolute best taste and quality from the UK organic market.

View criteria for these awards.

1) Best of Organic Milk, Cream and Butter

2) Best of Organic Cheese

3) Best of Organic Yoghurt

4) Best of Organic Fresh Produce

5) Best of Organic Bakery

Includes biscuits, cake, crackers, breadsticks – all
baked goods.

6) Best of Organic Chocolate

Includes chocolate beverages.

7) Best of Organic Chilled and Frozen – Savoury

8) Best of Organic Chilled and Frozen – Sweet

9) Best of Organic Fresh Meat

10) Best of Organic Charcuterie and Processed Meats

11) Best of Organic Store Cupboard Staples

Includes canned goods, pasta, stock, herbs and spices.

12) Best of Organic Oils, Vinegars and Dressings

13) Best of Organic Preserves and Spreads

14) Best of Organic Home Baking

Includes flours, sugar, eggs, dried fruit.

15) Best of Organic Cereals and Morning Goods

Includes cereals, granola.

16) Best of Organic Beers

17) Best of Organic Ciders

18) Best of Organic Wines

19) Best of Organic Spirits

20) Best of Organic Tea

21) Best of Organic Coffee

22) Best of Organic Soft Drinks

23) Best of Organic Vegan Products

24) Best of Organic Free-From Products

25) Best of Organic Baby and Children’s Food and Drink Products

26) Best of New Organic Food and Drink Products     

We are looking for exciting and innovative new products in organic, that offer something new and different to the organic market. Products are judged on concept, market need, ingredients, consumer insight and packaging alongside taste.

27) Winner of Winners (WOW) Award

The ‘Winner of Winners’ will be selected from the Food and Drink Product Award winners.

Criteria

View the criteria for all these awards and click on the relevant award for any additional criteria.

1. Organic Food and Drink Product Awards

   All entries must be certified organic at time of entry and at time of awards by Soil Association Certification or by another official and accredited certification body. 

   Products will be judged on quality and taste and not organic story.

   They will be blind tasted by an independent panel of three to four judges and marked out of ten for each of the following criteria: 

   • Overall appeal (colour, freshness, aroma) 

   • Texture (for Beers, Ciders, Wines and Spirits, this will be ‘Mouthfeel’) 

   • Taste
     

   Additional criteria will apply for the following awards:

   Best of Organic Fresh Meat

   • Tenderness 

   Best of Organic Beers, Ciders, Wines and Spirits

   • After-taste
     

   Where appropriate, food products will be presented for judging in both their raw and cooked state. A basic description of what the product is will be provided to judges in order to provide some context. 

   Judges will have the option to award up to three highly commended awards, alongside the gold winner, who will receive a trophy at the awards event.

   The Executive Judging Committee will oversee the judging process and validate all judging decisions. If necessary, supporting information included with each entry will be used to inform their final decision based on rewarding the entry which most supports the Awards’ aspirations to recognise and reward outstanding performance in organic.
   

2. Organic Baby and Children's Food and Drink Products - additional criteria

   The following additional information will also be considered by the judges:

   The role and purpose of the product as part of a child’s healthy eating routine

   On pack communications:

   • Government guidance is to introduce solid foods at around 6 months of age (snack foods unsuitable for under 1 year of age) and breast milk, infant formula and water should be the only drinks offered to children between 6 and 12 months of age

   Clear feeding instructions on front of pack if required (i.e. spoons to be used with pouches)

   Labelling and nutrition:

   • Product names are aligned with the primary ingredients
   • Clear if products are high in sugars (not for eating between meals)
   • Added salt and sugar not suitable for food marketed to babies
3. New Organic Food and Drink Products - additional criteria
   • Concept: we are looking for interesting new concepts, something that either hasn’t been done before or that you have done differently

   • How it fulfils a need or gap in the market and differentiates from competitors

   • Ingredients: are the ingredients unique or unusual? Have new or different processes been used or perhaps new combinations of flavours?

   • Consumer insight: how has the product’s development been informed by consumer need or research?

   • Packaging: what makes your packaging stand out?  Have you used innovative design, production processes, materials or copy?
     

   • Tell us how much it costs and why it’s good value for money?
4. Winner of Winners (Wow) Award

   All entrants into the Food and Drink Product Award categories will automatically be entered in the Winner of Winners (WOW) Award. 

   At the end of the judging process, all Gold award winners from across the 26 x Food and Drink Product Award categories will be pitted head-to-head, and the WOW Award winner will be selected by our panel of judges, including a representative from our BOOMs Headline Partner, Ocado Retail.
   

Best of Organic Beauty and Wellbeing Product Awards

We have five Beauty and Wellbeing Product awards, specifically for products that are certified organic (COSMOS Organic and/or Soil Association Organic). They feature creative and innovative use of ingredients and design, as well as communicate the benefits of organic.

View criteria for these awards.

1) Best of Organic Cleansers

2) Best of Organic Serums

3) Best of Organic Moisturisers

4) Best of Organic Pregnancy and Baby Products

5) Best of Organic Health and Personal Care Products

Organic Fashion and Textiles Product Award

This award is for finished products that are GOTS certified organic. They feature creative and innovative use of materials and design, as well as communicating the benefits of organic.

Criteria

View the criteria for all these awards and click on the relevant award for any additional criteria.

1. Organic Beauty and Wellbeing, Fashion and Textiles

   Entries will be judged according to evidence submitted online at point of entry. 

   All evidence will be explored, researched and reviewed by a panel of 3 to 4 judges and marked out of 10 on each of the below.

   We are looking for products that best meet the following criteria:
   

   1. Sustainability in supply chain for the product including circular economy practices.

   2. Product marketing – communicating the benefits of organic.

   3. Accessibility – how is the product as accessible as possible?
   

   4. Where are your products available for purchase? 

   5. Product design and innovation - how is the product on-trend, ground-breaking and sustainable? (Aesthetics, concept, materials, packaging, ingredients, or production processes).

   6. Commitment to organic industry (collaborations, supply chain development, pioneering new ways of working, participation in events etc.

   After the first round of scoring against the above criteria, the top 3 finalists will be asked to send retail ready products (x 4) for our expert panel of judges to test.  

   Products will be tested and marked out of 10 for each of the following criteria: 

   • Sensory experience (e.g., smell, texture, visual appeal) 
   • Ease of use
   • End result
     

   Judges will have the option to award up to three highly commended awards, alongside the gold winner, who will receive a trophy at the awards event.

   At the judges’ discretion and where relevant, additional information may be requested to identify the best entry.

   The Executive Judging Committee will oversee the judging process and validate all judging decisions. If necessary, supporting information included with each entry will be used to inform their final decision based on rewarding the entry which most supports the Awards’ aspirations to recognise and reward outstanding performance in organic.

   All entrants must be certified as organic at time of entry and at time of awards to the GOTS, Soil Association and/ or COSMOS Organic certification standard (depending on type of product).

2. Fashion and Textiles - additional criteria

   Product durability test results - (you may be asked for evidence at a later date) 

   • Rubbing fastness, dry for fibre blends 

   • Rubbing fastness, wet 

   • Light Fastness  

   • Washing fastness when washed at 40 degrees (30 degrees for animal fibre material or blends thereof)

Ocado Roots Award

The Ocado Roots Award celebrates the Ocado Roots Programme, designed to support and showcase start-ups and challenger brands. Organic Food and Drink, and Beauty and Wellbeing entrants can opt-in for free for this award. You must be a micro or small business with less than £10m annual turnover.

Organic For All Awards

We want the organic market to BOOM, and this means organic needs to become more affordable, available, and accessible. Our six new Organic For All Awards reward people, businesses and organisations who are helping to achieve these goals.

View criteria for these awards.

1) Best Organic Supply Network

One of the key principles of organic is fairness. A fair and transparent supply chain is one that rewards everyone. This is an award for the changemaker - you might be improving link between farmers and their customers or scaling supply in an innovative way.

2) Best of Organic Out of Home

Finding healthy and nutritious food in an out-of-home setting can be challenging. Our public settings often care for the most vulnerable, our children, the elderly, those with illness or who need extra support. We know that organic can go a long way in nurturing people. This award is for any out-of-home provider, working hard to get organic on the menu. 

3) Best of Organic in Communities

This award is for organisations and groups helping to make organic truly accessible and to champion organic from the ground up. You might be helping to establish better network links with communities or exploring innovative new ways to make organic produce more accessible to all. 

4) Best Organic Retailer

Retailers are a crucial final stage of the supply chain that shape the public access to organic. This award will celebrate supermarkets, online retailers, indies, farm shops, health food stores and box schemes that are working hard to make organic available, accessible and affordable whilst properly rewarding the producers.

5) Best Organic Champion

You might be a farmer, chef, changemaker or someone from a brand doing great things to champion organic to the public. This is an award for a great storyteller from the sector, for someone whose advocacy for organic is helping grow the public perception of everything we stand for.

Either enter yourself or enter on behalf of someone else.

6) Best Organic Gardener

Organic belongs to us all and there is a vast, green-fingered community, passionately growing vegetables, fruits, and flowers using organic principles. Growing organically is an act of grassroots activism, and our gardens, allotments and community spaces are all better off for it. This award is open to members of the public to enter and will honour an individual who has created a beautiful and diverse garden using organic techniques such as companion planting, crop rotation and havens for beneficial insects.

Either enter yourself or enter on behalf of someone else.

Criteria

View the criteria for all these awards and click on the relevant award for any additional criteria.

1. Criteria for Organic For All Awards

   Entries will be judged according to evidence submitted online at point of entry.
   

   Judges will have the option to award up to three highly commended awards, alongside the gold winner, who will receive a trophy at the awards event.

   At the judges’ discretion and where relevant, additional information may be requested to identify the best entry.
   

   The Executive Judging Committee will oversee the judging process and validate all judging decisions. If necessary, supporting information included with each entry will be used to inform their final decision based on rewarding the entry which most supports the Awards’ aspirations to recognise and reward outstanding performance in organic.
   

   All evidence will be explored, researched and reviewed by a panel of judges and marked out of 10 on each of the questions below. Click on the relevant award to view them.
   

2. Best Organic Champion

   How do you champion organic with your work?

   How do you communicate the importance of organic with your audiences? Can you share any examples?

   Why do you feel it’s important to champion organic?

   How might winning this award help you to amplify your work?

3. Best Organic Supply Network

   How has your organisation made organic more accessible to people? This could be a new consumer base/geographical location/channel.

   What motivated you to champion organic within your supply network and how has your supply solution helped unlock organic supply chains?

   What challenges did you overcome?

   What feedback have you received and what impact/results have you seen?
   

4. Best of Organic in Communities

   Tell us about your community, and any specific issues they faced that motivated you to improve access to organic food (150 words) 

   Tell us what you've done to make organic more accessible within your community (150 words) 

   Which other organisations have you collaborated with on this? (150 words) 

   What challenges did you overcome?

   What feedback have you received and what impact/results have you seen?

5. Best of Organic Out of Home

   What motivated you to introduce organic to your menu?

   What challenges did you overcome?

   What organic ingredients do you feature on your menus, and approximately how much annually?

   What feedback have you received and what results have you seen?

   How do you communicate about organic to the diner?
   

6. Best Organic Retailer

   Share your organic retail highlights from the last 12 months including product, promotion, price and place (in store placement or different routes to market).

   Tell us about your trends in organic product sales and number of organic lines available to customers.

   Tell us how you promote/signpost organic to your customers, including any examples of messaging and campaigns.

   How do you support your staff with the knowledge to promote organic to your customers?

   Is there any customer feedback you’d like to share with us?

7. Best Organic Gardener

   What are your motivations for gardening organically?

   Describe your gardening approach
   

   You may submit up to three photos of your garden. 

   You may also upload a short video of your garden taken on your mobile phone of no more than 30 seconds in length 

   What challenges have you overcome?

   What results have you had? This could include the abundance of wildlife, your harvest, engaging others, etc.

Nation's Favourite Award

Nominated by and voted for by the general public, the Nation's Favourite Award is for the most popular organic product and this year, can include nominations for food and drink, beauty and wellbeing, and fashion and textiles products.

Find out more about this award.

Soil Association Special Contribution Award

This award is for an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to organic.

Entries are by nomination from Soil Association and Soil Association Certification employees.

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