Sports and active nutrition is no longer just for elite athletes; it’s a lifestyle category serving both performance-driven individuals and everyday active consumers. This award celebrates the most innovative branded or own-label supplements, functional foods, and beverages designed to support energy, endurance, recovery, hydration, muscle health, and joint support.

From protein gummies and hydration powders to creatine RTDs and nootropic-enhanced blends, today’s products reflect advances in personalised nutrition, clean-label formulations, and multi-functional formats. Ingredients such as beta-alanine, tart cherry extract, magnesium, L-theanine, adaptogens, and functional mushrooms are helping address a growing range of physical and cognitive health goals. As interest grows in bioactive compounds, gut-brain axis support, and holistic wellness, this category recognises products that combine scientific advancement with creative formulation and evolving consumer needs.

Our Judges will look at how your product meets specific needs and will base their scores on your evidence to demonstrate:

• Whether your product meets a genuine consumer demand, and how relevant the core ingredient is in meeting this demand
• Evidence that the product works for its specified use, including peer reviewed data to back up any performance or health claims made
• Brand recognition and the commercial success of your product, including evidence of strong retail and consumer interest or listings of your product.
• Packaging design, consumer appeal, ease of use and innovation
• Evidence that your product and its delivery system(s) has no, or beneficial, impact on bioavailability (especially if citing single ingredient data).
• What gives your product the ‘X factor’ – something that makes it stand out from the crowd and edge out the competition (including evidence to back up claims)
  

To view the entry questions for this category, click to download

REQUIREMENT: Entries for the NutraIngredients Europe Awards Product of the Year categories are required to have the finished product commercially available in Europe.
Entry holders for this category are also required to submit 4 samples of their finished product for judging to William Reed's headquarters in the United Kingdom. More details & instructions will be shared when an entry is submitted.