NCA seeks key accolade nominations, and speakers for Sweets & Snacks Expo

The 2024 Sweets & Snacks Expo successfully moved to Indianapolis. Pic: Neill Barston
Enterprises from across the thriving US sweets and snacks scene are set to be honoured at the next State of the Industry Conference event next March, with its organisers, the NCA calling for entries from across the industry to put forward candidates for several key categories, writes Neill Barston.
Potential entrants have until Friday 18 October to put forward their businesses for a confectionery leadership award, drawn from top retail or wholesale buyers, category managers, and executives for their effective business collaboration, category management best practices, and innovations in merchandising confectionery products in-store.
Any employee of an NCA member company or a fellow retailer can nominate a deserving individual for this category, while the NCA is also seeking entrants for its Woman of Influence Award, presented by its Women’s Leadership Group, honouring a woman who has shown outstanding leadership, mentorship, and a track record of success in the confectionery industry. You can submit your entries at the following direct link.
Furthermore, the Candy Dish Awards celebrate the special relationship between manufacturers and the broker/sales agent community. The Golden Candy Dish Award is presented to a broker or sales agent industry member who has gone above and beyond to champion the confectionery industry, demonstrated exceptional leadership, built strong relationships, and created new business opportunities with confectionery manufacturers and customers. Nominations for the Golden Candy Dish can be made by fellow brokers or manufacturers.
The Silver Candy Dish Award is presented to a leader in a sales, marketing, or management in confectionery manufacturing who has made significant contributions to expanding the confectionery category utilizing a broker network. Only employees of an NCA broker member company may nominate someone for a Silver Candy Dish.
All the awards will be presented on Sunday, March 2 during a special recognition ceremony at NCA’s 2025 State of the Industry Conference, taking place at the Turnberry Estate, Miami. The conference will also feature one-of-a-kind education and networking events, the release of NCA’s proprietary State of Treating report, and two retailer-hosted roundtable sessions known as Treat & Greets. Learn more at CandyUSA.com/SOTIC.
Sweets & Snacks Expo call for experts
In addition, the NCA’s other major event, the Sweets & Snacks Expo, returns to Indianpolis next May, and is seeking industry subject matter experts and thought leaders who can provide fresh, relevant insights, new research, strategies, and trends to attendees – retailers, manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and brokers in the confectionery and snack industries.
This engagement provides speakers with a unique opportunity to showcase their thought leadership to an audience of more than 16,000 category leaders and retailers. The Sweets & Snacks Expo is the premier industry event for the confectionery and snack industries, and the co-located Supplier Showcase is a face-to-face marketplace dedicated to helping confectionery and snack suppliers connect with prospective and existing customers.
Sweets & Snacks Expo welcomes more than 90 percent of the confectionery-buying market and more than 75 percent of the snack-buying market in the U.S., plus 1,000 confectionery and snacks manufacturers. The event will take place May 13-15, 2025 (Supplier Showcase: May 12-13) at the Indianapolis Convention Centre in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Sample topics for Sweets & Snacks education sessions: include trends, including packaging trends, seasonal trends, as well as covering the retail landscape, including experiential retailing, AI, social commerce and the path to purchase, including influencer engagement.
For anyone considering putting forward candidates for topics for its parallel supplier showcase event, the required areas include Packaging trends, Supply chain disruptions and solutions, Ingredients trends, Manufacturing innovations, as well as sustainability.