Good Food Awards Roasted Coffee Submissions Beginning in July

Columbus, Ohio-based Crimson Cup Coffee & Tea won a 2020 Good Food Award for its Ethiopian Kossa Kebena coffee. Photo courtesy of Crimson Cup.

The registration period for the 11th annual Good Food Awards begins Monday, July 6, with United States coffee roasters allowed to submit up to two entries.

According to an announcement from organizer the Good Food Foundation, this year will include the potential for a cost waiver for one entry for businesses that have been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the group is offering early bird pricing for half off the $78 entry price for second entries between July 6-8.

“This year, with trade shows canceled and fewer opportunities to celebrate the essential work of makers, we feel it’s more important than ever to move forward,” the group said in today’s announcement, adding that it hopes the awards program will “bring visibility to a beautifully decentralized ecosystem of crafters and farmers that is strong and resilient, that is not just about profit, that adapts and continues to feed communities when massive meat processors and industrial farms cannot.”

Since early April, the Good Food Awards has been supporting small independent food producers — now including more than 50 coffee roasters — through its “Ship Anywhere Good Food List,” which urges consumers to buy directly from producers rather than from large grocers.

Coffee has been one of the most popular categories in the Good Food Awards program, which attempts to celebrate not only quality, but also sustainability efforts in sourcing and in production.

Typically, about 15 U.S. coffee roasting companies win Good Food Awards, which provide an annual awards gala, marketing opportunities for winning products and sales through GFA’s own marketplace.

While Ethiopian coffees have dominated the lists of finalists and winners in years past, the group of 2020 winners included a welcome jolt of diversity in terms of origin country and coffee varieties. Click here for more on the criteria for the GFA coffee category.