sofi Awards 2009 Coverage

The 2009 sofi™ Awards, the specialty food industry's highest honor, were announced on June 29 at the 2009 Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City  during a red-carpet event hosted by celebrity chef Ming Tsai. foodspring.com has had an all-access pass to this year's competition. If you're not familiar with the awards, they are chosen by a national panel of specialty food experts that are brought together by the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade.

This year's judges tasted and evaluated 1,433 submissions and choose 111 contenders for the coveted sofi Gold Award. Gold Winners in 33 categories were then chosen by Fancy Food Show attendees. Recognizing excellence in specialty food and beverages in 33 categories, “sofi” stands for Specialty Outstanding Food Innovation.

“The 2009 sofi Silver Finalists show that our [NASFT] members continue to create distinctive products that delight consumers,” said Ann Daw, president of the NASFT. “That is part of why our industry is managing to weather this challenging economy,” she added.

To read through profiles of each of the 2009 winners, click here.