Natural and Organic Award Winners 2012
Kate Humble, host of BBC Countryfile and Springwatch, has presented the awards to the winners of the prestigious Natural and Organic Awards 2012, held at the Natural and Organic Products show at the Olympia exhibition centre, London.
The annual ceremony, now in its seventeenth year, recognises and celebrates the organic industry's most innovative and impressive businesses and products in three categories: textile, retail and beauty.
The awards have become the benchmark for excellence and set a standard for innovation, quality and commitment in the natural and organic sector.
The textile and retail winners were selected by a panel of industry experts and professionals from a shortlist of diverse finalists. The beauty winners - divided into Best Organic Skincare Product, Best Organic Mother and Baby Product and Best Innovation in Organic Cosmetics - were chosen after a month's testing of short listed products by a variety of individuals.
The Soil Association is proud to support the Natural and Organic Awards, in association with Natural Products magazine. These awards play an important role in helping to raise awareness and support for an impressive array of innovative organic brands and businesses.
It is an exciting time for organic textiles, cosmetics and independent retail with these sectors all experiencing growth in recent years, despite the challenging economic context. These well respected and recognised awards represent a significant boost within the marketplace.
James Twine, Soil Association Certification Business Development Director
The winners of the Natural and Organic Awards 2012 are:
Best Organic Retail Award: Daylesford Farmshop at Ocado
Daylesford Farm is located in 2000 acres of beautiful Cotswolds countryside, owned by Carole Bamford. Daylesford launched the first virtual farmshop with Ocado in September 2011 selling their organic farm food - meat and poultry, bread and cakes from their bakery, cheese and milk from their creamery, homemade meals and soups, and a wide selection of store cupboard essentials - jams, chutneys, ketchup, biscuits and juices. Launched during Organic September 2011, Ocado's first 'online farmshop' allowed customers to engage with the range of award-winning products and the Daylesford brand story in a totally innovative way - with the result that sales of Daylesford products through Ocado have tripled.
Best Organic Textile Product Award: Jackpot Organic Donation T-Shirt
Jackpot started in the early 1970s when Jørgen and Carli Gry began designing colourful, comfortable and trendsetting styles from their basement shop. A Danish label specialising in colourful classics, Jackpot Organic is one of the biggest producers of sustainable fashion in the Nordic region and is certified to Global Organic Textiles Standards (GOTS).
Best Organic Skincare Product Award: Pukka Ayurveda Firming Facial Oil
Translated from Hindi to mean 'authentic', 'genuine'or, more colloquially, 'top-quality', 'Pukka' epitomises all that they represent - their ethos, ambition and everything they create. Pukka herbs are proud to say that all their herbs and products are certified organic by the Soil Association and the USDA and can all be traced back to the field in which they were grown. Pukka Ayurveda Firming Face Oil is a restorative treatment oil formulated for mature skin. With organic starflower, arnica and rosehip oil to plump and enhance tone, fragranced with soothing neroli and petigrain.
Best Innovation in Organic Cosmetics Award: Sophyto Purifying Silken Cleanser
Sophyto Organic is a professional grade organic skincare range certified by the Soil Association. Sophyto Purifying Silken Cleanser gently cleanses without stripping away skin's natural moisture and suits delicate skins. It's formulated to remove make-up and impurities without over drying, while conditioning agents restore and maintain skin's natural moisture balance. Honey propolis delivers age-defying benefits, improving skin texture, while proteins gently purify, leaving skin feeling refreshed and clean.
Best Organic Mother and Baby Product: Maclaren’s Beginning… Absorbing Dusting Powder
Beginning… Absorbing Dusting Powder, certified by the Soil Association, is part of a specialist collection of products for Mother and Baby from the Maclaren 'Beginning...' range. The range focuses on 'purity, nurturing and connection' from the very beginning and aims to encourage balance and harmony, in both parent and child, at a period of great change. All Beginning... products are safe, pure, organic and nurturing.
Best New Organic Food Product - voted for by visitors to the show on Sunday 1 April: Pulsin' Beond Organic Bars
Pulsin Beond Organic bars -Raw Chocolate Superfood Bar with Raisins and Raw Superfood Bar with Açai and Raspberry - contain only 100% natural ingredients making them an ideal complement to many special diets including vegan, gluten free, and no added sugar. They are also perfect for intensive athletic training and are currently used by marathon runners, cyclists, Ultimate Frisbee players and premiership football clubs. These snacks are also a great healthy alternative to an ordinary chocolate bar whenever you feel like having a nibble on something tasty.