Entering the South Australian Premier's Food and Beverage Industry Awards is a fantastic opportunity to evaluate and benchmark your business against the best. Becoming a finalist or winner provides you with a powerful recommendation for your products to customers and consumers, and offers signfiicant profile and recognition for your business and your brand.
If your principal place of business is in South Australia, at least half of your business expenses are incurred here, and your business either manufactures food and beverages or provides goods/services to the food and beverage industry, then your business is eligible to enter the South Australian Premier's Food and Beverage Industry Awards.
It's important to take the time to carefully read the criteria for each award category to decide which award categories you will enter. Entry eligibility and conditions of entry may vary between award categories.
Entry in the awards is a simple process involving the submission of a written application addressing the award category questions. You don't have to format a fancy document or make a pretty brochure full of pictures and video links - all you have to do is answer the questions for the award category and send your application as a simple Word document. Your application will be assessed on the merit of your answers and shortlisted applicants are then further assessed via a judges' site visit or interview.
No, entry in the South Australian Premier's Food and Beverage Industry Awards is free.
Entries open 9.00am Wednesday 6 May 2020 and close at 5.00pm Monday 29 June 2020. Please note, late entries cannot be accepted. We strongly recommend you aim to send your application at least a few days before the closing date to ensure it is safely received before the cut-off time.
One of the many benefits of entering the South Australian Premier's Food and Beverage Industry Awards is the opportunity it gives businesses to increase your brand profile and showcase your achievements. Food South Australia engages in multiple promotional activities throughout the awards program to support our applicants and nominees, including with our media partner The Advertiser and our trade media partner Retail World. We therefore ask that the business name you use in your application is the one you want to appear in any marketing, promotions, media content and/or announcements.
Yes, unless you won that category last year. Applicants are only excluded from submitting an entry in a category if they won the award for that category in the previous year.
You can enter up to two open business award categories in addition to the Business Excellence Award. Entry in any open business category, with the exception of the Emerging Business and Service Provider Awards, automatically enters your business in the Business Excellence Award.
It's always a good idea to bring everything up to date, but any previous applications can give you a great headstart on this year's application. Make the process as easy as you can for yourself and always save any previous award applications you've written, including those for other award programs. Make sure you check the questions carefully for any changes/differences each year, and update/adapt your answers accordingly. If you were previously shortlisted, or a finalist, in a category you plan to enter this year, take time to consider any comments or feedback you may have received from the judges when preparing your application.
As a service provider to the industry, you are eligible to apply for the Service Provider Award. This award category was added to the awards program for the purpose of recognising the valuable contribution made by local service provider companies to food and beverage manufacturers and is the only business award category open to service providers.
Each award is judged by a panel of judges comprising representatives from the food and beverage industry and government agencies with relevant experience for that category. These panels are overseen by the Independent Chair of Judging to ensure impartiality. Food South Australia is not involved in the judging process.
There are two stages in the judging process. The first is the assessment of all the written submissions. This takes place in July. If you or your business are shortlisted to the second stage of judging, either an interview will be conducted (for individual award applicants) or a site visit of your business premises will be arranged (for entrants in the open award categories). We will advise you if you have been shortlisted to confirm a time for this interview or site visit. There is a set period for this stage of judging, commencing in mid August. You will need to ensure you, or your designated representative are available during that time as these visits and interviews must be completed during this period.
The site visit or interview is your opportunity to support your written application through a presentation, additional documentation or a tour. The more evidence you have for your entry, the greater your chance to impress the judges. Preparation for these visits or interviews is what makes the difference in selecting finalists and winners, so make the most of this opportunity to showcase your success and your business to the judges.
To accommodate all the system, people, process and operational differences between small businesses and larger businesses, open business awards are judged in two categories: businesses with up to 15 full time quivalent staff (FTEs) and those with more than 15 FTEs. For the purposes of awards judging, the definition of full time equivalent staff are those involved in production and manufacturing processes, but excluding retail sales repesentatives. Visit our How to Enter page for information on calculating your FTEs.
There are set word limits for each question in the written application. If you exceed the word limit, your application will not be accepted. Make every word in your written submission count, and ensure you are answering the question and providing evidence to support your case.
The judges are not looking for a marketing document - they are looking for evidence of success in the award category. While the application process is a great opportunity to work 'on' your business for a little while, instead of 'in' it, and can even help you with your business and marketing planning later, for both tthe written submission and site visits/interviews, their focus is on understanding how you go about what you do, and why that means you should be considered for an award.
Be clear and succinct in the messages you convey and use dot points to make that message as easy to read and understand as possible. The judges are most interested in finding out what you're doing now, what you're planning to do in the future, what approach you'll take to achieve this, how you monitor your outcomes, and how you've changed and grown along the way.
Applicants will be contacted by phone in early August if they have been shortlisted for the second stage of judging involving a site visit or interview. Finalists will be announced on Thursday 1 October 2020 and winners will be announced at the Gala Dinner on Friday 13 November 2020.
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