Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards

Introduction

The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards recognize global excellence in the broad area of food innovation and community impact. In 2022, two awards will be given:

Research Impact
One award will recognize a researcher, or group of researchers, who has advanced understanding of food production, processing, distribution, consumption, safety and/or human nutrition, with a significant benefit to food systems or wider society. Likely themes include: food science, the environmental impact of agriculture, crop or livestock genetics, agro-ecology, soil health, food animal health and production, pest management, supply chain management, food processing, food packaging, food safety, food consumption, human nutrition, food retail/marketing.

Community Impact
The other award will recognize an individual, or group of individuals, who has contributed to improved nutritional health and/or food security, with a focus on strengthening disadvantaged communities. Likely themes include: food sovereignty, food production, food distribution/ access, food insecurity, community development and governance, household nutrition, urban poverty, traditional food systems, socioeconomic policy, empowerment of under-served communities, food and nutrition literacy.

Criteria and terms of the award

The criteria for awarding the Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards are as follows:

• The individual or group being nominated will have made exceptionally significant and documented contributions to either our scientific understanding related to food production, distribution and sales or human nutrition/consumption; and/or at the community level in markedly improving nutrition, including access to, or distribution of food.
• The nomination package must clearly demonstrate how the individual or group being nominated played a critical leadership role in achieving the above noted contributions.
• Recipients must be able to attend the award ceremony and ancillary events.

The Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards come with the following terms:

• Each of the two prizes will be worth $125,000 CAD comprising a $100,000 cash award for the personal use of recipients and up to $25,000 per award for travel and accommodation of the recipients, administered by Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph.
• An award citation and a commemorative item will also be presented.
• Recipients are expected to participate in a program of events. In particular, award recipients maybe asked to attend the next Arrell Food Summit. There may also be other engagements organized, subject to mutual availability.
• Given the current global pandemic a determination on the travel and accommodation component of the award will be made some time in the future.

Eligibility

• Citizens of any country are eligible for nomination, with no restrictions on gender, race, religion, creed or residency.
• Nominations may come from private companies, academic institutions, governmental units, charitable foundations, and not-for-profit organizations. In the case of multiple nominations from a single organization, only the one with the latest date will be accepted.

Nomination procedures

Academic institutions, governmental units or private / public organizations may submit a nomination for the Arrell Global Food Innovation Awards. Each organization may submit one application to each award.

Nomination packages are strictly confidential and the identities of nominators, nominating organizations and nominees are kept in strict confidence, except for the winners.

To nominate, please check the following document for nomination document guidelines, then send the nomination documents to afiawards@uoguelph.ca and this is also the address for any inquiries.