FOOD ENGINEERING's Plant of the Year Award Nominations
Do you have what it takes to be PLANT of the YEAR?
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 30, 2024!
FOOD ENGINEERING honors the most innovative new food or beverage plant built in North America each year. The automation strategy, processing and packaging line design, and supply chain management plan of each plant project submitted are reviewed.
Eligibility
Any new food/beverage plant, major retrofit, or pilot/test plant that became fully operational between October 1, 2023 and September 31, 2024. Note: Plants submitted should produce processed food/beverage products (not simply value-added commodities) designed for human or pet consumption.
Major renovations/expansions of existing facilities are eligible. Renovations will be judged on an equal footing with greenfield plants. Projects must have been completed between October 1, 2023 and September 31, 2024 .
Plant visit: Any plant entered in the competition must be available by February 2025 for an editorial visit to be part of our April issue. Please do not submit a plant that will not be available.
Who may submit entries
Food companies, A/E/C firms, suppliers or any others qualified to provide a detailed rationale for a particular plant. All entrants will be considered for Plant of the Year and Sustainable Plant of the Year awards, as well as future consideration as a Fabulous Food Plant cover story in FOOD ENGINEERING.
IMPORTANT DATES
Entries due: October 25, 2024
Final selection of winner: November 2024
Plant visit: January - February 2025
Winner featured on the cover of FOOD ENGINEERING: April 2025, along with accompanying cover story.
Award presentation at Food Automation & Manufacturing (FA&M) Symposium 2025 in April.
What is required?
A detailed narrative (maximum 10 pages) in support of the entry. Narrative should document the ways in which the plant excels with reference to the stated judging criteria. However, if there are additional relevant matters that go beyond the stated criteria, please be sure to call them to the judges’ attention in the narrative. These might include: on-time/on-budget performance; environmental impact; worker safety innovations; food safety innovations; advanced automation, process control and software technologies; size of project; room for future expansions; manufacturing teams; flexible manufacturing; supply chain management; vertical startups; and enterprise resource planning.
Clearly captioned illustrations, renderings/drawings, photos, etc. should be submitted if directly relevant. Please send high-resolution photos. Video clips of the facility's processing and packaging lines may also be included to support the entry, if available. Photos and videos can be submitted via Dropbox or another file-sharing service if they are too large for email.
A list of the companies and equipment manufacturers that served on the project team. We want to recognize everyone in the group that played a role in the completion of the project, from the owner all the way through to the subcontractors and suppliers, this includes manufacturers of any equipment or software installed in the facility. There will be no penalties or points deducted from the scoring by the judges if an incomplete list or no list is included due to such factors as non-disclosure agreements (NDA).
Questions? Please contact Editor-in-Chief Derrick Teal at teald@bnpmedia.com.
Your entry is exclusive to FOOD ENGINEERING’s Plant of the Year award
When you submit your entry and accompanying materials, you are agreeing to participate exclusively in FOOD ENGINEERING’s Plant of the Year award and Sustainable Plant of the Year award, and not submit your materials to other related food industry trade publications/contests. We also kindly request that you do not allow any other food industry trade publications access to the plant until after the visit by FOOD ENGINEERING in February.