These awards are the first example of EU-wide organic awards and are conceived as a follow-up to the Action Plan for the development of organic production, adopted by the Commission on 25 March 2021, which announced the launch of such awards to raise awareness of organic production and increase demand for organic products.

Eight awards within seven categories will be given out, including best organic farmer female, best organic farmer male, best organic region, best organic city, best organic bio-district, best organic SME, best organic food retailer and best organic restaurant. More information can be found on the dedicated EU Organic Awards page.

An award ceremony will be organised to announce the winners on EU organic day, 23 September 2022.

Eligibility criteria

Applications for the EU Organic Awards shall meet the following eligibility criteria:

a) Applications must be submitted from 25 March 2022 to 8 June 2022 23:59:59 CEST via the links available in the award categories and awards section on this webpage.

b) Applications must be in one of the official EU languages.

c) Applicants must be legal or natural persons established or resident in one of the 27 Member States of the EU.

d) The project submitted must be EU based and refer clearly to one of the 7 award categories/8 awards of 2022. The same project cannot be submitted for several award categories/awards. Each applicant can only apply for one award. The maximum number of applications per award is one.

e) The project should either have been fully implemented already or should be in a sufficiently mature state so as to enable the jury to assess it (i.e. physical implementation should be advanced enough to demonstrate the achievement of the objectives).

f) Specific eligibility criteria for each award category:

• Best organic farmer (female) and Best organic farmer (male): Certified accordingly to the Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and labelling of organic products;
• Best organic region: No specific eligibility criteria;
• Best organic city: No specific eligibility criteria;
• Best organic bio-district: A bio-district is defined as a geographical area where farmers, the public, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, based on organic principles and practices;
• Best organic SME: An enterprise certified according to Regulation (EU) 2018/848, complying with the SME definition (an enterprise that employs fewer than 250 persons and has an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and /or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million) and having 100% organic production (to be understood as organic products or in conversion);
• Best organic food retailers: An enterprise certified according to Regulation (EU) 2018/848 and having 100% organic certified references (to be understood as organic products or in conversion) on sale (excluding non-food products or food products for which there is no organic availability);
• Best organic restaurant: Having 100% organic (to be understood as organic products or in conversion) certified references in their menu, where possible (in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/848).

Award criteria

All eligible applications will be assessed by the EU Organic Awards jury against the following horizontal award criteria:

• Excellence: The awardee must have developed an excellent initiative producing real added value for organic production. This means good results and impact of the project in relation to its initial objectives. Projects shall demonstrate their impact on the area and territory concerned and show their results against the initially set targets and objectives.
• Innovative character of the project in the selected award category: Projects shall not be "business as usual", but should demonstrate new approaches, new organisational methods, or the development of new (or significantly) improved results for organics. The criteria for measuring the innovative character for each category are better detailed in the dedicated section of the category.
• Sustainability pillars (environmental, social and economic) of the project: Projects shall demonstrate their sustainability and their future as a self-standing initiative or project.
• Transferability and possibility to replicate the project elsewhere in the EU: The project shall demonstrate that it represents good practice in a wider (EU) context and that it inspires or could inspire other places. The project should also show good ways of communicating its goals and results.

Source and apply