FAQs

The Original Brand Corporation presents CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) Awards by Food & Beverage Magazine, are a prestigious competition recognizing excellence in shelf-stable food service products, consumer packaged goods from across the US and Global.

CPG Awards® highlight quality, authenticity, taste, ingredients, nutritional value, and innovative design, providing nationwide and international recognition for both emerging and established brands.

The competition is open to all domestic and international brands with shelf-stable food service products or consumer packaged goods. Eligible products include any item packaged in a bag, box, can, pouch, plastic, container, or bottle. In other words, we accept all CPGs - no produce, frozen foods, dairy or meat.

There are more than 500 categories to enter. If you do not see a category that fits your marketing purposes, please reach out to Michele@cpgawards.com - the beauty about our competition is that it is fashioned from a "brand" vs. "self" platform - your retail consumer packaged goods will be rated by a 100-point proprietary system and not rated against another "like" brand - so, we can have a single entry in a category. Let us know if we are missing a category that you believe your product fits in.

The Original Brand owns and operates three beverage competitions featuring buyers as judges from all sectors of the beverage industry looking specifically for spirited products, beverages, wines, and the newest emerging category, alternative/infused beverages. If you are interested in entering a beverage in our competitions, please visit www.proofawards.com.

We are offering two different competitions, one for standard CPG products and another that showcases holiday products.

YES!

Enter all year-round products in the CPG Awards® - enter all holiday/specialty occasion products in the CPG® Awards-Holiday. (All products that are themed, packaged for all holidays and special occasions such as Christmas, Hannukah, Easter, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Super Bowl (The Big Game!), Halloween, Fourth of July, Rosh Hashana, Chinese New Year, etc.

CPG Awards® will highlight all specialty nutrition and wellness attributes so make sure when you enter your brand you let us know ALL specialty highlights for your product. The judges, all buyers want to see this, so please enter all that connect to your product. Here is a small example:

• Low-Sodium
• Fat-Free
• No artificial flavors/colors
• Sugar-Free
• Allergen-Free
• Flavored
• Gluten-Free
• Sweetened/No Sugar Added
• Non-GMO
• Vegan/Vegetarian
• Dye-Free
• Nut Free
• Keto-Friendly
• Paleo-Friendly
• Kosher certified
• Plant-Based Ingredients
• Halal certified
• Locally Sourced
• Family Owned
• Women Owned
• Minority Owned
• Veteran Owned
• B-certified
• BPA Free

• Judging is conducted by an esteemed panel of industry leaders from across the US, including buyers and distributors in all facets of the CPG area including retail stores, big box chains, specialty stores, gift shops, airlines, cruise ships and more. All judges are buyers looking for the newest products to put on their shelves.
• Products are evaluated on taste, value, ease of preparation, health benefits, and overall use.
• A team of retail packaging experts, and store buyers will also provide a rating for design and theme, packaging and allure as we know, what we see on a shelf is what we buy.
• Awards include bronze, silver, gold, double-gold, and the prestigious Century Award for perfect scores.
• Final rounds determine Best of Category in top categories.

• Winners receive a CPG Award® custom slick designed trophy to display that will also highlight all dietary, nutrition and wellness attributes. This trophy is perfect to showcase at all tradeshows, presentations, and your personal fireplace mantel. It's on the front page of this website to take a gander.
• Recognition in Food & Beverage Magazine's Winners Edition that reaches 15 million monthly readers both consumers and B2B within the food & beverage, restaurant and supply industries.
• Everyone wants to buy and taste a winner. Increased visibility and credibility among buyers and consumers.
• Opportunity to stand out in a crowded marketplace with targeted specialty awards.
• Social media, bragging rights and a valuable initiative to separate your products from your competitors in the buyer's arena.

• Registration open July 1, 2025
• Registration closes on October 30, 2025 at 5 pm
• All CPG Samples must be received by Nov. 7, 2025
• All products must have an expiration date no earlier than January 15, 2026
• Competition Week - Nov. 14 – 21, 2025

• Entry Portal for CPG Awards-Holidays opens on January 5, 2026
• Entry Portal for CPG Awards-Holidays closes on April 30, 2026
• All holiday products must be received by May 8, 2026, by 5 PM - PST
• All products must have an expiration date that must be of June 30, 2026
• Competition week is May 18-22, 2026

• Entries and payments must be submitted through the entry portal at www.cpgawards.com
• All food and essentials submissions must be received by the specified deadline.
• Products must have expiration dates extending beyond the competition date and include all necessary nutritional and certification documentation.

We are requiring 24 (a standard case) of each SKU entered.

CPG Awards® will be enlisting more than 200 buyers as judges, and we want to make sure your products gets tasted and rated by as many as possible. The more buyers that taste your product, the better for your brand!

All entry products are simply mailed into our corporate office. At this time, no brands attend our judging process but that will change in the future with our added trade show element, coming soon.

CPG Awards
11700 W. Charleston Blvd. Suite 170
PMB 546
Las Vegas NV 89135

Local Drop-Off: If you're in Las Vegas, you can hand-deliver your samples Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at the above address. Please label all submissions with CPGA Awards #546

Yes, we are accepting products that are shelf ready, and will formally be ready to get onto the shelves during the year of the competition. This is a jumpstart for these brands to get tasted by buyers.

Each SKU entered is $275. We provide a special discount for companies that enter 10+ more SKUs.

We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB. Payments are processed securely online during the registration process.

For ACH direct bank payments, please contact Michele@CPGAwards.com for details.

We are committed to delivering the CPG Awards® every year, and we do not anticipate cancellations. Even in challenging times (like in 2020), we managed to hold our sister event - PR%F Awards spirits/wine beverage competition and we will continue to offer the competition as planned.

However, if you pay for your entry but fail to submit your products by the deadline, you will not be eligible to participate, and no fees will be refunded.

Be sure to submit your samples early to ensure your participation!

Our judges are buyers—and that's what makes CPG Awards different from other competitions. We specifically select distributors, big-box retailers, gift shops, vending programs, and multi-location store owners who have the power to place products on shelves. Our panel consists of top-level industry experts with hundreds of years of combined experience in evaluating quality, taste, price point, and marketability.

Our mission is simple: to connect your brand directly with buyers looking for new products. If a judge likes your product, you could be on your way to securing distribution.

Judges are not paid. They dedicate their time, effort, expertise and keen eye in discovering new and emerging products to bring back to their venues.

We are currently seeking additional judges for CPG Awards® 2025 and want to meet all product buyers! If you are a CPG buyer and a key decision-maker in product selection, we'd love to hear from you. Send your resume or a note to Michele@cpgawards.com.

After the CPG Awards® we carefully tally the thousands of ballots and calculate the scores. We'll send you a formal letter and graphics showcasing your wins and scores a few weeks following the competition.

All winners are featured in the digital Food & Beverage Magazine - Winner's Edition, a 100+ page special edition reaching over 15 million readers monthly. Additionally, it's sent to our proprietary database of 250,000 buyers.

Yes, we offer post-award advertising and editorial opportunities, and we will contact all winning brands when those opportunities become available.

If you win a customized (super cool) - Bronze, Silver, Gold, Double Gold, or Century Award - trophy and your hardware will be mailed to the main contact that entered your brand.

If the main contact changes, please update the information to ensure correct delivery. Judges (buyers) receive your details and may reach out to you at any time during the year. We distribute our winners' magazine quarterly to keep your brand visible throughout the year.

Not necessarily. Trophies and Accolades are awarded based on the points each entry earns. For example, some categories may have multiple golds or none at all, depending on the results.

Established in 2018, The Original Brand, LLC is a marketing company, and parent corporation for CPGA Awards®, CPGA Awards®-Holiday, PR%F Awards Spirits/Wine competition, PR%F Awards-RTD Beverage Competition, and PR%F Awards-Infused/Alternative Beverage Competition. We are the original food & beverage rating competitions that provide an all-buyers platform for judges, not only providing a professional integrity-based awards rating program, but providing a program that introduces new products to personnel with purchasing power.

Food & Beverage Magazine (15 million monthly readers noted by Amazon's Alexa rating system, and noted as the most progressive resource in the F&B industry). Food & Beverage Magazine is the leading online magazine resource for the food & beverage industry with signature celebrity features and an over 20 year long valuable reputation. F&B Magazine has the eyes of the industry's top professionals that are in search of the latest and greatest. www.fb101.com

For questions or assistance, contact Michele Tell, Executive Director at Michele@cpgawards.com