The 2023 Expo East NEXTY Awards: Here's what you need to know

The NEXTY Awards are a twice-annual awards program in which New Hope Network recognizes the most innovative, inspirational, and integrity-driven products in the natural products industry. The awards are connected to New Hope Network’s largest annual natural product expos: Natural Products Expo West in March and Natural Products Expo East in September. 

The NEXTY Awards first launched as a joint partnership between New Hope Network and the Sterling-Rice Group to recognize products that aligned with trends and growth opportunities in that year’s NEXT Forecast Report, an annual insider’s guide to where the natural products market is now and where it’s headed. See the past winners. 

New Hope Network will accept nominations for the 2023 Expo East NEXTY Awards until midnight Mountain Time on June 30. 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the NEXTY Awards were open only to exhibitors at Natural Products Expo West and Natural Products Expo East. The nomination period and judging for NEXTY Awards is completed in the two months prior to Expo West or Expo East. Currently, any CPG brand in the natural products industry with a finished product can nominate.

Companies nominate products by filling out a form and questionnaire on the NEXTY Awards website. Additionally, they send product samples to the New Hope Network office in Boulder, Colo., to be evaluated during a several rounds of judging. The judges — members of the New Hope content, standards, and data and insights teams — whittle the pool of nominees down to a range of two to six finalists in each category, depending on the number of entries in each category. 

From there, the NEXTY finalists move on to the final round of judging. The judges for the final round are members of the New Hope content, standards, and data and insights teams, as well as a rotating panel of industry experts. For the final round of judging, the judges converse, debate, and in some cases even argue until they decide on the single winning product in each category.

The NEXTY Awards winners will be announced live in Philadelphia at the start of Expo East and on newhope.com.

The editors and judges use these criteria to determine whether a product is worthy of a coveted NEXTY award:

Innovation: The product or company shows truly creative thinking and execution (not a "me too" approach); uses a newly discovered or rediscovered ingredient, flavor profile, technique or process; fills a legitimate (though perhaps not yet recognized) natural products market need or niche; and/or is predicted to have longer-term impact in the industry.

Inspiration: The product or company adheres to an unusual or new mission targeting an issue or problem not yet widely addressed; its message/mission is clearly communicated, focused and effective, with real, wide-reaching potential or already proven positive social or environmental impact.

Integrity: The product or company takes a creative, next-gen approach to clean ingredient(s), sustainability, transparency, traceability, and safety/security.

Additionally, all products must meet New Hope Network's Ingredient Standards & Guidelines, which are the same standards and guidelines in place for all exhibitors at Natural Products Expos.

All finalists will be featured in a special showcase at Expos East and West, as well as on each expo's virtual platform. They will also be included in a print feature in Natural Foods Merchandiser and a number of special features on newhope.com.

The NEXTY winners receive all the benefits of the finalists as well as a NEXTY trophy, exclusive rights to use the NEXTY Awards winner logo in promotions and packaging, access to the winner’s toolkit to maximize their award, and more.