BOOM Awards Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

BOOM Awards 2023

Product and Business Awards Entry

1. How do I enter the awards?

   To enter the BOOM Awards:

   1. How do I enter the awards?

   To enter the BOOM Awards:

   Please visit www.soilassociation.org/boomawards and read about the award categories and criteria, to ensure your products or business are eligible and that you are clear about the entry process. Make a note of the information you need to hand (for example product/ initiative details and organic certification if applicable).

   Follow the link to https://boom.awardsplatform.com/ to register as a user. You will need to check the email sent to you to verify your account and then you can start your entry.

   If you registered as a user for the previous BOOM Awards in 2020/2021 you can log in with this account, you can reset your password if necessary.

   You can then start your entry and save to finish later, but all compulsory questions must be answered, and payment must be made to complete your entry.

2. When do entries close?

   Entries close at midnight on Thursday 1st December 2022. Please note entries have now been extended for two weeks. New closing date for entries: 11:59pm on Thursday, 15th December 2022

3. How much does it cost to enter a category?

   Entry is FREE for Soil Association-certified businesses with <£250k organic sales turnover. (Free entries limited to two per business).

   Free entry code: To secure your two free entries use the discount code "smallbusiness" upon checkout. NOTE: Only Soil Association-certified licensees are eligible for the free entry code offer. Licence numbers required at registration. Licences will be checked and any false application of the discount code will lead to immediate disqualification.

   £65 +VAT for Soil Association-certified businesses with >£250k organic sales turnover (and for smaller businesses that want to make more than 2 entries).

   £130 +VAT for businesses certified with another certification body.

   Discounts for multiple product entries (25% discount for 4th & 5th entries, 50% discount for 6th entries and any thereafter).

4. Which category should I enter my product or business into?

   Our comprehensive award category list includes Organic Food & Drink Product Awards and several Business Awards including some specifically for Food & Drink, Farming, Beauty & Wellbeing and Fashion & Textiles.

   You can browse the full category list on the categories page. If there are any sub-categories these will be displayed when you click on the drop-down menu within each category. 

   You will need to check the eligibility criteria for each award to ensure your product / business is suitable before entering.

5. Is there a limit to the number of products/categories we can enter?

   There is no limit to the number of products/ categories you can enter for the awards. You are welcome to enter as many as you wish, provided you meet the eligibility criteria for the awards. There are discounts for multiple entries.

6. Is my product or business eligible for these awards?

   If your product/business meets the criteria (including organic certification where required) you are eligible to enter a category. Some products/initiatives cross over categories, in which case you may wish to enter the product into more than one category, for an additional entry fee. 

   The organisers reserve the right to move your entry into the category they feel would be most appropriate to allow the fairest judging.

7. Can we send in any supporting materials to accompany our entries?

   Product samples will need to be supplied for all product awards and more details about this are provided in the judging section below.

   All categories will have questions that need to be answered in relation to the judging criteria. The only categories that require an additional attachment are:

   • Best of Organic Eating Out – which requires a sample menu to be submitted.
   • Best of Organic Marketing Campaign – which requires a visual from the campaign to be submitted
   • There is an option for the Farming categories to provide a link to a video.

   Organic Certificates will also need to be submitted where applicable (see Q. 8 for more information about which categories this applies to).

   We also ask for 1-2 photos of your product/ business (across all categories) for marketing purposes, but these will not be used for judging. One of these images should be the product you are entering on a transparent background.

8. Do I need to submit an organic certificate as part of my entry?

   For the following categories you will need to upload your organic certificate/s to complete your entry. If you don’t have access to these, you may need to consult your quality/technical team or whoever is the named licence holder in your company to get a copy.

   • All Food & Drink Products
   • Box Schemes
   • Independent Retailers (ONLY if you process or sell any unpackaged organic products i.e. fresh produce / dry goods refills.)
   • Farms (+10ha) and Smallholdings and Market Gardens (-10ha)
   • Start-Ups (Only members of the Soil Association Certification Start-Up Support Package (including applicants) can enter, but you must have had your licence issued before final judging in May 2023. If you don’t have a certificate yet please enter your Soil Association Certification reference number.)
   • Best of Organic Fashion & Textiles Products* (GOTS)
   • Best of Organic Home Products* (GOTS if applicable, COSMOS for cosmetics products, or Soil Association Health & Beauty scheme)
   • Best of Organic Beauty & Wellbeing Products* (GOTS if applicable, COSMOS Organic for cosmetics products, or Soil Association Health & Beauty scheme)

    

   *If you are selling B2B, or if you are selling B2C only and therefore aren’t certified please provide supplier certificate/s.

   The following categories do not need an organic certificate to be submitted but must evidence organic business/support against the relevant questions on the entry form.

   • Eating Out
   • Online Retailers
   • Independent Retailers (if you DON’T process or sell any unpackaged organic products i.e. fresh produce / dry goods refills)
   • Supermarkets
   • Innovations
   • Packaging
   • Marketing Campaigns

Judging Procedure and Criteria

1. When and where will the judging take place?

   The judging of the Organic Food & Drink Product categories will take place in Bristol in April and May 2023. We regret that entrants may not attend judging.

   The Beauty & Wellbeing, Fashion & Textiles and Home Product Awards and the Business Awards will be judged remotely in March, April, and May.

2. How are the awards judged and against what criteria?

   The food & drink product awards are tasted by an independent panel of judges. They are judged on quality and taste, not organic story.

   The only exception is the Best New Organic Product Award and Best of Organic Baby & Children’s Products, which are also judged on evidence submitted via the online entry form.

   The Business Awards are ‘desk-based’ awards and are judged remotely by an independent panel of judges.

   For the Beauty & Wellbeing, Fashion & Textiles and Home Product categories the top three finalists will be asked to send products for testing.

   See the category criteria and Terms and Conditions for more information on judging and criteria.

3. When and where should we deliver our products for judging?

   You will receive detailed communications in the run up to the judging with plenty of notice on how to supply your product/s, the exact day it should be delivered, as well as an address label.

4. Will you confirm receipt of delivery of products at the judging venue?

   Due to resource restrictions and tight timescales onsite during judging, we are unable to confirm receipt of individual product entries. If you require confirmation of delivery, please use a tracked/signed-for courier service. We will however do our very best to chase up any undelivered entries.

5. Who are the judges?

   The Food & Drink Product Awards are tasted by an expert panel of judges. We will promote our judges as soon as they have confirmed their attendance but will not be revealing which category any individual judge will be involved with.

6. What is the role of the Executive Judging Committee?

   Judges are overseen by the Executive Judging Committee, who have the final say in judging panels, decisions and criteria, and are consulted on any issues that may arise.

7. Will we receive feedback from the judges on our entries?

   Due to resource restrictions and tight timescales during judging, we are unable to offer feedback to individual entrants.

   There will be three finalists, including one winner, selected for each sub category. One of these sub category winners will then be selected as the main overall category winner. Where there are no sub categories, there will be three finalists including one overall winner for the category.

8. When should we expect to hear whether we have been shortlisted for an award?

   All finalists will be contacted shortly after the judging to confirm they have been shortlisted for an award, and by the beginning of June 2023 at the latest.

9. When will the winners be announced?

   Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony scheduled to take place on Wednesday 5th July at Paintworks in Bristol and online on our website at the BOOM Awards post-awards.

Public Vote Awards & WOW Award

1. What is the Nation’s Favourite Organic Food & Drink Product Award?

   This award is to celebrate the most popular organic food and drink product nominated and voted for by the public. Dates for voting will be confirmed in January 2023.

   There are two rounds of voting:

   In the first round a member of the public can nominate any organic product that is certified organic via a simple form on our website. They must specify a brand and product name. All nominations are checked for integrity and then shortlisted down to the top 10.

   In the 2nd round the top 10 products from round 1 are promoted for further voting and the judging panel will then award the Nation’s Favourite Organic Food & Drink Product to the entry with the highest number of votes.  

2. How can I vote?

   All votes must be made online at BOOM Awards.

3. Is there a cost to vote?

   There is no cost for voting or subsequently being entered for the award. All votes must be for a product certified as organic at the time of entry by a recognised and accredited certification body.

4. What is the Organic Ambassador Award?

   We are currently reviewing this award and will share more details in January 2023.

5. What is the Winner of Winners (WOW) Award?
   We are currently reviewing this award and will share more details in January 2023.
6. If I have a query how can I get in touch?

   Contact details for entrants with queries are boom@soilassociation.org and telephone 0117 9142440.

• Enter the BOOM Awards 2023

• Terms & conditions

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