The Hive Awards are live! PKN's sister title, Food & Drink Business, has launched its annual industry excellence awards and is calling on all processing and packaging innovators in the food and beverage sector to get on board and submit entries.
Established in 2024 to recognise excellence and innovation in all aspects of food and beverage manufacturing, past winners include:
George Weston Foods’ brand Don, for its resealable flow wrap pack for sandwich fillers and other smallgoods. This innovative packaging is a departure from the conventional thermoformed packs and addresses consumer demands for better functionality, sustainability, and product visibility.
Chobani Australia won the Best Packaging Award last year for its Gippsland Dairy Crafted 150g pot. The packaging features a clear PET pot with embossed branding, a heat-sealed foil lid, and a recyclable paperboard sleeve printed with soy-based ink.
And two packaging and processing companies received the Gamechanger Award in 2025 – Gina’s Table and TomKat Global Solutions.
Gina's Table also took home The Hive Award's 2025 Golden Hive for its leadership, innovation, and commitment to reducing food waste through value-added processing. The company created a high-impact model to transforms second-grade fruit – once deemed unmarketable – into nutritious, value-added products like freeze-dried powders, crumbles, and snacks. Its state-of-the-art 4000 square metre freeze-drying facility is equipped with GEA technology that was developed for NASA.
or its innovative processing method to reduce food waste.
KoolPak by TomKat Global Solutions was recognised for its breakthrough in sustainable cold chain logistics, offering a reusable and recyclable alternative to environmentally damaging expanded polystyrene (EPS). With over 30 reuses per unit, KoolPak delivers significant cost savings and reduces emissions by 65 per cent compared to EPS. The packaging’s flat-pack design cuts freight and storage costs while enhancing traceability and food safety.
in onshore manufacturing.
And Sydney-based Packserv won last year’s Local Manufacturing Award for its commitment to onshore equipment development for the Australian food and beverage industry. The company designs and builds high-speed fillers, pneumatic machinery, and modular packaging systems, all locally manufactured and serviced.
There are nine categories and entries close on 13 March. Visit The Hive Awards for all the details.
Top 5 reasons why you should enter
If you need further encouragement, here’s our top reasons to get involved.
Highlight achievements and experience
Judged by a highly regarded panel of influential industry professionals and experts, a Hive Award recognises the effort, passion, and expertise of your company and how it is one of the industry’s top performers driving the sector forward.
Stand out from the crowd
The Hive Awards are designed to celebrate industry excellence and increase the profile and credibility of your company that can unlock new opportunities in the sector. Securing a Hive Award will set you and your business apart from your peers and strengthen your position in the industry.
Impress investors and stakeholders
The Hive Awards offer the vehicle to shine a light on a project or product that may not have received the attention it deserved and the impact it had on business growth. In turn, it shows investors and stakeholders the calibre of work being done, acknowledges your team, and may even attract more investment down the track.
Increase recruitment and retention profile
An ongoing industry challenge is recruiting the right people and retaining them. The Hive Awards provides the opportunity to raise recognition of your company, showing you are one of the top operators in the sector and increasing your attractiveness to high-quality, discerning candidates.
Benchmark with other companies
The Hive Awards night is an opportunity to raise your company’s profile but also hear about what other companies are doing and how they are doing it, which may inspire new ideas and practices for your operations.
Head to thehiveawards.com.au for all the program requirements, categories and scoring rubric.
Entries are open until 4pm on 13 March.
