Changes ahead for Grand Prix awards

The Toronto-based Retail Council of Canada (RCC) has announced major changes for the 2015 Grand Prix New Product Awards.

Now in its 23rd year, the Canadian Grand Prix New Product Awards is an annual awards program that celebrates new products in food, non-food and private-label categories, recognizing and rewarding product innovation.

Earlier this year, the RCC set up an advisory group called the Canadian Grand Prix Advisory Council (CGPAC) to help it review the listing strategy and product categories for the awards, as well as to provide real-world industry guidance to improve evaluation criteria.

The overall program structure went through a thorough review process, which resulted in new food and non-food categories being created for the 2015 Grand Prix New Product Awards program. The 2015 categories were updated to better represent how merchants and their vendors merchandise and market products, and all category descriptions also now include Nielsen rating details.

The deadline for entries for the 2015 awards is November 27. To be eligible, a product must have been introduced to the market between January 1 and December 31, 2015. For more information on the awards program and its new categories, go to www.rccgrandprix.ca.