The Natural Products Expo East 2022 NEXTY Award winners

Twice a year, in concurrence with Natural Products Expos West and East, New Hope Network recognizes the best new products with coveted NEXTY Awards. CPG brands nominated hundreds of products across 19 categories, and every one was sampled and reviewed by New Hope's experienced editors. At the same time, the team scrutinizes which products best exemplify "the threes I's"—innovation, inspiration and integrity—by which a product is judged. New Hope Network today announced the 2022 Expo East winners on the Natural Products Expo Virtual platform. 

Nearly 600 nominated products narrowed down to 73 finalists

Brands may submit multiple products to multiple categories, which adds an extra, albeit challenging, layer to the judging process as the team determines which new product shines brightest. The New Hope team chooses finalists for each category—73 for this competition—then invites industry experts to join the second round of judging and help select the winners. The two-tiered judging process ensures that each nomination is thoroughly reviewed and upholds the NEXTY Awards' importance to the natural products industry at large.

This year's panel of guest judges ranged from retailers at Thrive and Misfits Market to sustainability experts, B Corporation experts and industry veterans. Their knowledge and expertise cover much of the natural products industry, which helps determine a secret fourth I: impact. In addition to the criteria of innovation, inspiration and integrity, judges selected today's 19 winners with an eye on each product's potential impact in its selected category.

Related:Natural Products Expo West 2022 NEXTY Awards winners named

Missed the awards announcement? Watch it on demand here.

The winners

In addition to these 19 category winners, New Hope's editors recognized two brands to receive this year's Editors' Choice Awards. In a change from previous in-person Natural Products Expo events, this year's winners were announced with the others so they all have the same opportunity to make the most of their recognition before Natural Products Expo East begins on Wednesday, Sept. 28. In addition, two products were awarded Consumer Choice Awards. 

As New Hope Network has since the fall of 2020, it welcomed nominations from all CPG brands in the natural products industry, not just exhibitors at the concurrent Expo trade show. This policy change gives the NEXTY Awards competition a greater reach and allows more early brands to nominate products. While all 23 award-winning products are featured in this gallery, many of these brands also are exhibiting at Expo East later this month.

Congratulations to this year's NEXTY Awards winners, and thank you to all nominees that made this the most thrilling Expo East NEXTYs competition yet!