This year, New Hope Networks’s NEXTY Awards adopted a new and improved process to flesh out the most innovative new natural products exhibiting at Expo West. Rather than editors struggle to nominate brands on the show floor—and asking industry to vote months later—companies nominated new products launching at Expo West in January.

We fortified the judging process by engaging the entire editorial team (and New Hope’s Standards Department) to scrutinize products and choose the top three finalists in each of our nineteen categories.

The judging process didn’t stop there. We invited seven judges with years of natural industry experience and knowledge to help select the NEXTY winners.

Here’s an inside look at the NEXTY judging process. The NEXTY winners will be revealed on Saturday, March 12, on the Natural Products Expo West show floor.