2025 BOOM Award winners announced
|
Today Soil Association Certification has announced the winners of the 2025 BOOM (Best of Organic Market) Awards, in partnership with Ocado Retail. The awards honour the brands, organisations and people behind the UK’s organic industry.
Announced by TV personality Andy Clarke on July 10th at The Paintworks, Bristol, the night was a celebration of the best from across the UK organic market, honouring the businesses and people making a positive difference to people and planet. From over 400 initial entries, the winner of each of the 39 BOOM Award categories has now been named.
JUDGES Each winner was independently and enthusiastically judged by an esteemed panel of experts. The food and drink winners were blind tasted by an expert panel of food and drink judges which included 2024 Masterchef Winner Brin Parathapan, chef and food writer Xanthe Clay and Bake Off contestant and presenter Briony May Williams.
Soil Association Certification Commercial & Marketing Director, Georgia Phillips says “We are delighted to reveal the 2025 BOOM Award winners. The judging process was rigorous, and the finalists and winners deserve glowing recognition for being selected as the best that the UK organic market has to offer.
WINNERS The winners cover the full spectrum of the organic sector, including food, drink, beauty and wellbeing, and fashion and textiles products, alongside six ‘Organic For All’ awards which recognise the inspiring people and organisations working to make organic more accessible to all.
Notable recipients include the winner of the “Best Organic Champion” Award Sean Ruffell, Managing Director at Organic North, which was presented by My Green Pod founder Jarvis Smith. The award recognises Sean's hard work supplying more affordable organic produce to schools in Manchester as well as independent retailers, restaurants, bakeries and cafes nationwide.
The “Best Organic Gardener” award was presented to Jamie Walton, known to his 1.4million Instagram followers as “Nettles and Petals”, honouring his commitment to educating his following about growing flowers and food in a more ecologically friendly way.
The “Winner of Winners” (WOW) Award, which honoured the product that blew away the food and drink judges the most, was taken home by Northern Irish brand Natural Umber, whose Organic Apple Cider Vinegar also took home the prize for “Best of Organic Oils, Vinegars and Dressings”.
In a somewhat shocking twist, Cafedirect’s Organic Mayan Gold coffee, available in supermarkets nationwide, beat two speciality organic coffee brands to take home the “Best of Organic Coffee” prize.
The ceremony also saw Ocado Retail- the headline sponsor of this year’s awards - announce the winner of their Roots Award. Wild Thingz Organic Fruity Flyers Gummy Sweets took home the crown, which will give them access to mentorship from Ocado that will help to scale their business.
Simon Hinks, Product Director for Ocado Retail, says: “Partnering with Soil Association Certification is invaluable for Ocado as we work to grow the organic market and support the future of sustainable food production.
“As a retailer that over-trades in organic, we recognise the importance of securing a robust and growing pool of organic suppliers.
“We would like to extend our congratulations to all the finalists of this year’s BOOM Awards, including the winner of the Ocado Roots Award, Wild Thingz.”
Emotions were high in the room as David Finlay from The Ethical Dairy Company accepted the Special Contribution Award which recognises individuals who have dedicated their life to organic. David accepted the award both on his behalf, but also posthumously on behalf of his wife and business partner Wilma, who passed away earlier this year. David and Wilma pioneered a technique at their dairy that keeps calves with mother cows, and Wilma was previously recognised with an MBE for her services to agriculture and tourism in Scotland.
BOOMING ORGANIC MARKET The winners are being announced at a time when the UK organic market has shown exceptional growth and is significantly outperforming non-organic with the market growing 7.3% in 2024 with total sales of £3.7bn, double what they were just 10 years ago (2014 - £1.86bn) according to Soil Association Certification’s 2025 Organic Market Report.
The latest available figures for the first quarter of 2025 shows a continuation of the positive momentum, with further volume and value growth. The organic market has seen double-digit growth at 10% over 12 weeks, with unit sales +4.8%.
Over the 52 weeks to 22nd March 2025, the organic market has seen +8.9% value growth and +5.3% unit growth (source: NIQ Scantrack, Total Coverage, Organic Food & Drink category Soil Association defined).Organic has seen continual growth because it answers consumers’ demands for health and sustainability, particularly with younger Gen Z consumers. In fact, seven out of 10 shoppers say that they intentionally buy organic food and drink 1.
|