With the great and good from the garden retail gathered at the Celtic Manor on 19th October, the winners of the highly-anticipated 2023 GIMA Awards were revealed. Here we find out more about those brands currently celebrating in style!
This year, the GIMA Awards winners were carefully selected by a panel of industry experts. As always, innovation, thoughtful design and carefully curated content came together to create a roster of entries that gave the judges plenty of food for thought. However, after much debate and discussion a final list of winners was created, which tonight has been announced by celebrity host, Gethin Jones.
GIMA Director, Vicky Nuttall said of the event: “What a night! Every year the awards keep getting better and better. We continue to see more guests joining us and also see the competition heating up as brands from across the industry hope to be the ones to take the trophy home. Tonight’s event has been truly superb. We’ve seen new names climb the winner’s podium and together have celebrated the best our industry has to offer. Thank you to all that attended, and thanks also to our judges and sponsors for their contribution.”
GIMA AWARDS 2023 – THE WINNERS
One of the most coveted accolades is the GIMA Sword of Excellence, and this year it was Sipcam Home & Garden who walked away with the honour for its Organic Superfood for Peat-Free Compost. The judges said: “The single biggest issue that we face as an industry is the move to peat-free compost and this helps to address this challenge. It’s also well-presented and has great commercial opportunities.”
Elsewhere, the team from Smart Garden Products celebrated being awarded the GCA Supplier of the Year Award, having just missed out on the accolade last year. The team pipped 2022 winners, Meadow View Stone, and Woodlodge to the win. The GCA said of Smart Garden: “Our reasons for selecting Smart Garden Products as the 2023 GCA Supplier of the Year are simple. They are extremely reliable with great availability and prompt delivery and offer products that are well presented and sell well. Together this all makes them a joy to work alongside.”
The 2023 Gardenex Export Achievement Award was presented to Grow Sow Simple for its campaign alongside Winco Foods in the US, with VegTrug and Wildlife World enjoying finalist status. Talking about the success of Grow Sow Simple, Gardenex said: “This was a very professional and successful operation and a very worthy winner of the Award for their outstanding achievement.”
Sustainability was also celebrated with Treadstone Products walking away with this year’s HTA sponsored Sustainability Award for its Rope Trellis. The judges remarked: “Sometimes the simplest of ideas are the best and this rope trellis provides consumers with a great sustainable solution for climbing plants.”
A ‘Sustainability Champion’ was also selected within each category (where relevant), celebrating the different ways sustainable solutions are being brought to market.
