National Grocers Association Accepting Entries for 2025 Creative Choice Awards

This year's Creative Choice Awards from NGA features several new and revised categories.

The National Grocers Association (NGA) is now accepting entries for its 2025 Creative Choice Awards, which honor the best marketing and merchandising programs of independent grocery retailers from the past year. Submissions for the awards are being accepted online.

Following are the 2025 awards categories:

Marketing

Digital Connections
Traditional Media: TV Radio and Print
Innovations in Integrated Marketing
Community Engagement
Grand Opening or Remodel
Multicultural Marketing
Shopper Experience
Top Pick for Talent

Merchandising

Local, Specialty or Emerging Products
Fresh Departments
- Dairy
- Bakery/Deli/Prepared Foods/Foodservice
- Meat/Seafood
- Produce/Floral
Center Store/Frozen
GM/HBC
Private Label/Store Brands

There are several new and revised categories for this year’s awards: Multicultural Marketing, which recognizes efforts to engage community diversity; Shopper Experience, which recognizes efforts to unify in-store visits with e-commerce; and Top Pick for Talent, which honors outreach efforts to attract talent and position grocery as a career option for the emerging workforce. Additionally, the Community Engagement category now includes seasonal events, which were formerly in a separate category.

On the merchandising side, there are now separate divisions within fresh departments for entries relating to dairy; bakery, deli, prepared foods and foodservice; meat and seafood; and produce and floral. Further, the center store/frozen category is now separate from general merchandise and health and beauty care. There’s also a new category for private label and store-brand product initiatives.

“The increasing diversity of the shopping experience and the ever-widening variety available from independent grocers compelled us to broaden the entry categories for the Creative Choice Awards,” explained Laura Strange, chief communications and engagement officer at Washington, D.C.-based NGA. “This provides additional opportunities for independent retailers to be recognized for their creativity and innovation.”

Along with the main categories, two special-recognition categories shine the spotlight on prominent industry initiatives, with each holding significance for their respective sponsor: Kellanova’s ESG Excellence Award, recognizing campaigns that focus on wellbeing, people, community and sustainability, and Unilever’s People Positive Award, honoring initiatives that promote workplace diversity and inclusion

Retailers, wholesalers, suppliers, manufacturers and advertising agencies that create marketing and merchandising programs for independent grocery stores can submit entries, but the Creative Choice Awards contest is a retailer competition and the retailer that implements the campaign will receive the award. Events, campaigns or promotions held between Dec. 1, 2023, and Dec. 1, 2024, are eligible. Entries may be entered in various categories as appropriate, up to a maximum of three.

All completed entries are due by Friday, Dec. 20. Entries will be judged according to creativity, clarity and effectiveness. From among the category winners, one “Outstanding Marketer” and one “Outstanding Merchandiser” winner will be chosen by the public via online voting. These winners will be revealed during the 2025 NGA Show and recognized year-long.

NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale  grocers that make up the independent sector of the food distribution industry.