London: The annual World Food Awards, which celebrate and recognise the significant achievements of ethnic food product ranges are set to return on 2nd December at a star-studded ceremony at the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.
The annual event, which attracts the cream of the food industry and showcases the very best triumphs of the ethnic food sector over the past year, was launched by The World Foods Association five years ago, and has since become one of the most prominent events on the ethnic and world foods calendar. The WFA today announced that the 5th World Food Awards are now accepting nominations for the 2013 ceremony.
To commemorate its landmark fifth year, and in celebration of the increasing popularity of ethnic products in the market place, The World Foods Association, has introduced two brand new categories this year. ‘The People’s Choice Award’ marks the phenomenal success of a brand or product which has established a prominent presence within the market place and ‘World Foods Cookbook of the Year Award’ will recognise the key role chefs play in world food’s ever growing popularity through their published recipe books. Nominations for both categories are submitted directly by the public meaning the winner of this category will have created a significant impact within the consumer market.
A total of ten awards will be presented on the evening, they are:
- Best New Product of the Year
- Best Packaging of the Year
- Independent Wholesaler of the Year
- Marketing Campaign of the Year
- National Retailer of the Year
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- Lifetime Achievement Award
- Restaurant of the Year
- World Foods Cookbook of the Year – PUBLIC
- The People’s Choice Award for Best World Food or Drink Product of the Year – PUBLIC
The World Food Awards are open exclusively to companies specialising, promoting or stocking products from the following ethnic ranges: Asian, Oriental, African, Afro-Caribbean, European, Eastern-European, Middle Eastern, South American and Mediterranean. The closing date for this year’s entries is Monday 14th October 2013.
Previous winners have included supermarket giant Tesco (National Retailer of the Year 2012), The Spice Tailor – a range of sauces by celebrity chef Anjum Anand (Best New Product of the Year 2012) and exotic drinks brand Vita Coco for their striking campaign featuring music sensation Rihanna (Marketing Campaign of the Year 2012), amongst a host of other well-known and respected brands from the word foods sector, each walking away with one of the highly coveted awards.
Harry Dulai one of the World Foods Association’s founding supporters, said: “Following on from the success of the four previous events, which created a significant impact within our industry, we are looking forward to once again celebrating and recognising the remarkable achievements of all our nominees and winners in our landmark fifth year. The event will play host to the who’s who of the world food sector – an affirmation that rewarding this previously undervalued sector was long overdue. By refining our existing categories and introducing two brand new awards voted for by the public, we hope that the World Food Awards will attract even more entries this year.â€
The event will again feature a glittering line-up, including performances from leading artists and a host of celebrities, food personalities and acclaimed chefs to present the awards. Last year the awards were attended by an array of celebrities including chefs Anjum Anand, Ravinder Bogal, Aaron Craze, Reggae Reggae Sauce creator Levi Roots, EastEnders actor Nitin Ganatra and Masterchef stars Liz McLarnon and Antony Costa as well as Great British Bake Off contestant Rob Billington.
This year’s high-profile judging panel will include some of the UK’s most respected industry experts, including Editor of The Grocer Adam Leyland. The full list of judges will be announced shortly.