Ingredient of the Year: Sports Nutrition
in association with Sports & Active Nutrition Summit Europe

Sports and active nutrition is no longer reserved for elite athletes. Today, it is a mainstream category serving everyone from high-performance competitors to active consumers seeking to support their health, fitness and recovery goals. This award celebrates the most innovative ingredients designed to enhance energy, endurance, recovery, hydration, muscle health, strength and joint support.

Eligible entries include ingredients developed for sports and active nutrition applications, ranging from advanced performance-focused solutions to convenient, everyday wellness products. Today's leading ingredients combine robust scientific substantiation with consumer demand for clean label, multifunctional and personalised nutrition solutions.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Save €60 by submitting your entry before Friday, 4 December 2026. 
Secure your early-bird savings now and continue editing your entry until the closing date.

SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY

The entry fee for this category is €420 €360.
Entries close Monday, 1 February 2027, at 11:55 p.m. CET (Paris time).

Want to know what our judges are looking for in an entry?

Our Judges looked at how your ingredient meets specific needs and based their scores on the evidence to demonstrate:

  • A genuine consumer demand or requirement based upon a common issue or risk factor
  • Solid scientific evidence to demonstrate a unique nutritional solution to this need or problem – including peer reviewed data to back up any performance or health claims made
  • Commercial success and engagement from your core target market(s). Give numbers and examples of sales and applications that are available in the market
  • What gives your ingredient the ‘X factor’ – something that makes it stand out from the crowd and edge out the competition (including evidence to back up claims)

To view the entry questions for this category, click to download

REQUIREMENT: Entries for the NutraIngredients Europe Awards, Ingredient of the Year categories were required to have the ingredient in a finished product that is commercially available in Europe.

Judging Process

  • All entries need to abide to our Entry Terms & Conditions
  • Once all entries have been received they will be reviewed by the NutraIngredients Europe Awards Judging Panel made up of independent judges from the industry.
  • Our 2027 finalists will be confirmed and notified in early April 2027.
  • Our 2027 winners will be announced during an awards' presentation in Barcelona on Wednesday 19 May 2026.