Special Awards

The Free From Awards make several extra awards, increasing your opportunities to shine!

The Special Awards cannot be entered directly – but all entries into the Food & Drinks Awards are eligible, subject to the individual criteria below. A shortlist for each Special Award that meets these different criteria will be selected from among all medallists. Our sponsors and carefully selected FFA judges will review and decide on winners.

Almost Totally Free From

Sponsored for 2026 by

This is the ultimate award for manufacturers who have gone above and beyond, creating foods that are free of all but one of 15 allergens*. Foods must be free from 14 out of the 15 allergens, with no precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) for these 14.

This is always an interesting award, with perspectives being challenged by those living with multiple allergies. This award raises real awareness of how big a difference some of the entries here make.

*these are the top 14 UK-listed major allergens plus 1 extra: peas and chickpeas, a major problem for a growing number of UK allergy reactors.

Tree Nut & Peanut Free

Sponsored for 2026 by

This award is all about acknowledging the growing number of products that have invested in developing and manufacturing a nut safe product.

Entries here have to be free from all tree nuts and peanuts, and with no precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) for either. A diverse category and one we want to be the ‘go to’ for those seeking delicious, completely nut safe options.

Innovation Award

Sponsored for 2026 by

Within the free from world innovation is disproportionately important, with new or significantly altered products potentially making a huge difference to the lives of the food hypersensitive consumer. Innovation is crucial to the continuing success of any organisation.

Innovation here could be a new concept for the free from market, a category-leading quality evolution, an innovative use of ingredients or manufacturing techniques, unusual recipes, or new ways to deliver health or flavour.

Judging will be undertaken with a team from Nairn’s. There will be one winner and may be runners up.

Start Up of the Year

Sponsored for 2026 by

Open by invitation only to young companies with one or more entries into any of the Awards, this category is designed to encourage and make a real difference to a start up manufacturer poised to accelerate their free from growth ambition. This category is only open to companies who started trading after January 2nd 2024. Judging will be undertaken with a team from Tesco, who also offer mentoring to the winner, making this a unique opportunity and of great value. There will be one winner and may be runners up.

Sustainability Award

In partnership for 2026 with

Recognising all the great things you and your brand are doing to produce sustainable products!

Our partners the Sustainable Kitchen Consultants will review all entries and award the most sustainable entry / brand – there will be one winner and may be runners up.

SKC can carry out an end-to end sustainability assessment for your business covering all 3 pillars of sustainability: People, Planet, Profit. Theirs is the only sustainability assessment that considers human health to be as important as planetary and environmental health, which aligns with the Free From Awards’ central tenet of benefitting the free from and allergic consumer.

Free From Brands of the Year

This award recognises the role of brands in the development of the free from sector and considers the products in a brand’s range. To qualify for this award, entrants will need to have entered a minimum of 3 products into the awards for ‘Small or Micro Brands’, and 6 for ‘Large Brands’. We determine micro, small & large as per our entry fee criteria:

Micro: turning over £0-£300,000
Small: turning over £300,001- £3,000,000
Large: turning over <£3,000,001

Free From Products of the Year

Sponsored for 2026 by

The Free From Awards presentation culminates in three awards given to individual food and drink products: two from brands, and one from a retailer – these are the best of the best, where gold winners go head to head to be crowned with these prestigious titles. These awards are:

Retailer Free From Food Product of the Year
Free From Drink Product of the Year
Free From Food Product of the Year

Free From Retailer of the Year

Sponsored for 2026 by

This well-established award recognises the crucial role that the supermarkets, in all their formats, play in the free from sector. The qualifying threshold is 40 entries with a minimum of 1 entry qualifying for 15 (TBC) of our Food Award categories as specified in the Awards Terms & Conditions. The top scoring entry from each of the occasion categories listed in the entry criteria plus the highest scoring 15 products across all other entries will determine a retailers score and ultimately Retailer of the Year.

Healthier Product of the Year

Sponsored for 2026 by

The Healthier Product of the Year award will highlight healthier choices in free from by selecting a shortlist of gold medal winners that meet the criteria we use to assess possible winners. These include protein and fibre content, micronutrient content, phytonutrient content, valid health claims and nutrition claims.

Our sponsors This Way Up and carefully selected FFA nutritionist judges form part of the judging team for this award; there will be one winner and may be runners up.