Best Green SME Food & Beverage Producer of the Year

This award recognises the SME food and beverage producer on the island of Ireland (with 249 or fewer employees) who distributes their products and who can demonstrate commitment, innovation, and action in evolving Irish food production toward sustainability over the past 12 months.

In your submission, please explain your company's overall sustainability/environmental strategy, what measurable targets you have set and what you have achieved to date. The judges will be expecting freshness of content backed up by hard statistics demonstrating year-on-year comparisons.

Entry is by a 5 A4 page submission; the judges will be looking for clear information and evidence of delivery on core objectives, paying attention to the criteria listed below.

• Background: Provide a background of your corporate sustainability/environmental strategy, outlining how it was developed and its objectives.

• Commitments: Describe the sustainability commitments made in relation to sourcing, management of resources, greening of the supply chain and contributions to the local community. Outline the results achieved to date including any innovations introduced.

• Targets: Describe the measurable sustainability targets set relating to energy and waste management and reducing environmental impact. Outline the results achieved to date including any innovations introduced.

• Culture: outline how sustainability has been embedded into your organisation, the level of senior management buy-in and the commitments made to staff training and communication of your sustainability initiatives.

• Commercial Benefits: outline how your green initiatives are resulting in a positive impact on your business, e.g. increase in productivity, cost reduction, compliance with regulations, attracting employees and investors, etc. Provide metrics where relevant.