New Hope Natural Media Presented 24 Natural Products Manufacturers with Awards at Natural Products Expo East

BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- New Hope Natural Media presented 24 natural products manufacturers with awards at the 29^th annual Natural Products Expo East, the East Coast's largest natural, organic and healthy products event.

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Adam Andersen, show director, Natural Products Expos said, "We are very pleased that our event is the platform for brands – from legacy leaders with the industry to entrepreneurs launching their businesses – to showcase their natural, organic and healthy products on an even playing field.  We congratulate all of the winners on their awards, as they were truly the stand out products of the event, and wish them success."

Best of East Awards
The Best of East Awards is the official Natural Products Expo East show award, voted on by over 300 members of the press and presented to the three most innovative products exhibiting at the event.

The Best of East Awards winners included:

• Lawrenceville, GA- based Little Me Tea for their organic ready-to-drink tea and juice box for kids
• San Francisco, CA-based Hampton Creek Foods for their Just Mayo, eggless mayonnaise
• Victoria, BC-based Deebee's SpecialTea Foods for their Organic Frozen Tea Pops.

Retailer of the Year awards 
The Retailer of the Year award winners exemplify excellence in today's retail world through sustainability, innovation and community, values that define the natural products industry.

Natural Foods Merchandiser and Natural Products Expo East presented the following companies with the Retailer of the Year awards:

• Most Sustainable category: Louisville, KY-based Rainbow Blossom 

• Community Engagement category: Concord, MA-based Debra's Natural Gourmet

• Best New Store category: San Diego, CA- based Jimbo's…Naturally!
• Innovation category: Coeur d'Alene, ID-based Pilgrim's Market

Award nominations were received from across the nation—from peers, distributors, manufacturers and even customers and community members.

The award advisory board, which selected the winners, includes: Sandy Gooch retired from Mrs. Gooch's; Cheryl Hughes of The Whole Wheatery; Brad Magaro of Maximum Marketing; Pat Rector of Independent Natural Food Retailers Association; Christine Tzumas of Presence Marketing; Rickard Werner of KeHE Distributors; and Casey VanRysdam of UNFI.

New Products Showcase awards
Each year Natural Products Expo East awards exhibitors who have showcased the most innovative products created within the past year. The finalists are selected by and voted on by all attendees of Expo East.

The New Product Showcase awards include:

• Gluten Free: Mills River, NC-based Ardenne Farm's Fudge Brownie Mix
• Grocery: Lutherville-Timonium, MD-based Michele's Granola's Apple Quinoa
• Health & Beauty: Tustin, CA-based Youtheory's Collagen
• Natural Living: Baltimore, MD-based Bambeco Inc.'s recycled glassware  
• Organic: New York, NY-based Bitsy's Brainfood's Organic Fruit & Veggie 1,2,3 Cereal
• Supplements/Herbs & Medicinals: Tustin, CA-based Youtheory's Turmeric 

NEXT Accelerator Natural Products Pitch-Slam competition
Red Lodge, Montana-based Cooksimple won the NEXT Accelerator Natural Products Pitch-Slam competition.  Pitch-Slam is a fun, fast-paced event that lets entrepreneurs pitch their natural product businesses to a panel of six leading natural products investors and branding experts, as well as receive immediate feedback and expert suggestions for improving and refining their companies. 

Cooksimple is a line of all-natural meal kits designed to make healthy home cooking simple and delicious.  After learning that better eating begins at home, founder and CEO Keith Lauver created a simple solution for nutritious home-cooked meals that works for today's hectic schedules.

Cooksimple won a prize package of goods and services valued at more than $22,000, including branding and marketing consulting services from MetaBrand Corporation and Interact on Shelf, social media consulting services from VOCO Creative, a copy of Bob Burke's Natural Products Field Manual, an invitation to present at Nutrition Capital Network's Investor Conference, a free booth at Expo East 2015 and a copy of NEXT: The Natural Products Industry Forecast 2015.

NEXTY Editors' Choice Awards Winners
The Editors' Choice winners are chosen by the NEXT Forecast research team, based on their deep understanding of the market. The winners represent companies believed to be making a positive impact in the industry.

The NEXTY Editors' Choice award winners:

Natural, Organic and Functional Food and Beverage

• Salt Lake City, UT-based Chapul: The world is hungry for protein and Chapul is helping to meet this growing demand with a line of innovative and delicious nutrition bars packed with cricket protein.

Supplements and Ingredients

• Brevard, NC-based Gaia Herbs: Consumers are increasingly turning to curcumin for help with chronic pain, joint support, cognitive function, and more. Gaia Herbs stands at the forefront of this exploding market with its Turmeric Supreme line of curcumin extracts.

Beauty and Natural Living

• Alexandria, VA-based Soapbox Soaps: SoapBox Soaps not only makes great natural soaps and other personal care products, the company is raising the bar for purpose-driven business with its buy-one-give-one model, which provides soap, fresh water and vitamin supplements to children across the globe. 

NEXTY Popular Vote Award Winners
During Natural Products Expo West 2014, New Hope Natural Media's editors and trend spotters selected a group of 105 stellar NEXTY nominees who they thought best represent the future of the natural products industry.  They then turned to the consumers, manufacturers and retailers who make up the natural products industry, to identify which brands should rise to the top.

The NEXTY Popular Vote winners include:

Natural, Organic and Functional Food and Beverage

• Winner: New York, NY-based Bitsy's Brainfood: Bitsy's Brainfood hides fruits and vegetables in a palatable package for picky eaters. The playful alphabet cookies include a rainbow of produce: organic broccoli, sweet potato, beets, zucchini and carrots and are fortified with omega-3 DHA and calcium to support growing bones and brains. 
• Runner up: Santa Monica, CA-based Botan: Plant-based protein is on the cutting edge of carbohydrate-averse, paleo-style eating trends. Vegan, Non-GMO Project Verified and low-calorie, Botan's colorful drinks get their punch from pea protein. 

Supplements and Ingredients

• Winner: Tustin, CA-based youtheory:  youtheory strives to bring customers the highest quality products to Age Beautifully™ while also making the world a better place.
• Runner up: Irvine, CA-based Neocell: NeoCell is a collagen finished-product company.  Its collagen comes in fruity beauty beverage shots: orange, blueberry, apple, pomegranate and more.
• Runner up: Vancouver, BC-based Zend: Zend is an intriguing flip on the energy shot category—a calming shot. With 500mg of the soothing botanical kava kava in a 2-ounce shot, Zend shows promise as the brand that puts kava back on the map as a go-to relaxation ingredient.

Beauty and Natural Living

• Award Winner: Bayside, CA-based Ohana Organics: Ohana Organics' tattoo butter is certified organic, vegan and contains organic healing herbs that is infused into oils and then blends into clean, healthy shea butter. It's a soothing non-toxic cream that can be applied during and after tattoo application and to brighten colors. 
• Runner up: Sussex, WI-based Flaska: Flaska combines two trends in drinkware: using glass or steel instead of plastic and on-the-go, integrated water purification systems. Flaska's reusable glass bottles also purify water through "vibrational restructuring"-- meaning silicone's inherent "remembering" properties restructure water to a purified form when the water molecules contact the glass. Just as natural spring water is restructured as it cascades down rocks, this bottle purifies water as you walk, shake or twist, using zero added material. 

Natural Products Expo West 2015 will return to the Anaheim Convention Center, March 5-8, 2015 in Anaheim, CA. Natural Products Expo East 2015 is scheduled to take place at the Baltimore Convention Center, September 16-19, 2015 in Baltimore, MD.

Follow @NatProdExpo or #ExpoEast on Twitter for ongoing conversations or connect on our Facebook or LinkedIn groups to keep up on Natural Products Expo latest developments.

About Natural Products Expo East

Natural Products Expo East, produced by New Hope Natural Media, a division of Penton, is the largest natural, organic, and healthy products trade show on the East Coast.  Natural Products Expo East is ranked as one of the top 200 tradeshows in the U.S.

About New Hope Natural Media
New Hope Natural Media is the leading media resource and information provider for the natural, organic and healthy products industry, with print, in-person/event, and e-business products and services.

CONTACT:
Heather Smith
New Hope Natural Media
(303) 998-9232
Email: [email protected]

SOURCE New Hope Natural Media