The first Nice Awards ever!

On Saturday 13th May 2017 we held The Nice Awards for the first time ever. So many people came from all over Norway and even further afield to celebrate the businesses and individuals putting ethics at the heart of their work. The ceremony was organised by all of us here at Vegan Norway in collaboration with Oslo Vegetarfestival inside the beautiful Kulturkirken Jakob. It was a fantastic event and we are looking forward to making it even bigger and better next year.

Pulled Oumph! (Oumph!)

nicest new product 2017

In 2016 we saw so many great new vegan products flooding the market, the nominees in this category included Deli De Luca who launched a fantastic vegan burger covered in vegan cheese and special chipotle veganaise, Narvesen also launched a tasty vegan pølse in their kiosks and Alpro's Go On soy yoghurts were a huge success in supermarkets all over the country. Other new products nominated include Berit Nordstrand's Coconut Milk Chocolate, Delizia's vegan ice cream, and Tofuline's caramel ice cream cones. The clear winner of the Nicest New Product category however was Oumph! with their Pulled Oumph Product which has been hugely successful this year. We invited the talented Veganmannen to The Nice Awards to present them with their award.

Nordvegan

nicest newcomer 2017

We have also seen lots of wonderful new businesses, organisations and bloggers inspiring people to make more compassionate choices. From small projects like vegan cake caterers Topped Sweetness, and brand new animal rights organisation Animal Insight Norway to brand new restaurants like Git Bit and Oslo Raw, there have been so many fantastic newcomers providing people with greener options this year. Other nominees in this category included Grønne Folk, Pene Piker and Veganermats new store in Moss. The winner of the Nicest Newcomer category was Nordvegan, their brand new 100% vegan restaurant in the heart of Oslo has been popular since their opening day, and they continue to amaze vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters alike with tasty and filling dishes made from plants.  The inspiring Siri Martinson took to the stage to present them with their award.

Vegetarbloggen

nicest blog 2017

Norway has a very active vegan blogging scene, so the Nicest Blog category was a tough call and the votes were very close. Here at Vegan Norway we are huge fans of all the blogs that were nominated. Green Bonanza, Mynths, Veganmannen, Veganmisjon, Veganslife, Style Connection, and Grønt på Bordet were all very popular, but the amazing Mari Hult from Vegetarbloggen won the award. We were so happy about it, Mari's blog is so inspiring to so many. Shabana Rehman Gaarder came up on stage wearing the coolest hat ever to give the award to Mari.

Funky Fresh Foods

Nicest restaurant 2017

The Vegan Norway app lists hundreds of amazing vegan friendly restaurants in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger, and we like to think of ourselves as the experts on places to eat here. There are so many amazing vegan friendly places to visit these days that it's kind of difficult for us to pick our favourite. But we didn't have to, because we could just let the public vote instead! It ended up being a very close call between Nordvegan, Der Peppern Gror, Oslo Raw, Mat Fra Hagen, ASIA, Loving Hut, and Persilleriet. But the winner was the amazing Funky Fresh Foods! The lovely Nina Elisabeth Børke from the 31 Days project presented the Funky Fresh Foods team with their award.

LUSH

nicest store 2017

It's becoming easier and easier to buy great vegan products, and we have so many great fancy boutiques, health food stores, and grocery shops here in Norway which stock wonderful vegan friendly products. We asked you to tell us which of them was your favourite. Nominees for Nicest Store this year included Sunkost Gunerius, Røtter, Råvarene, Scent, Kinsarvik, Green Spirit, & Grønlands Torg. The winner of this award was everyone's favourite fancy soap store LUSH, and the award was presented by Adele Holt-Iversen from the blog Men Hva Spiser Du Egentlig?

NOAH - for dyrs rettigheter

nicest organisation 2017

Norway is full of amazing organisations working against the odds to help make the world better for animals. We love them and we think that it's about time we let them know how much they matter.  Nominees in this category included Nettverk for dyrs frihet, Norsk Vegansamfunn, Helsepersonell for plantebasert kosthold, Dyrebeskyttelsen, Animal Insight Norway, Anima, and Fremtiden i vare hender. The award was presented by Mari Hult of Vegetarbloggen who gave a passionate speech about the work animal rights organisations here in Norway have been doing and how much their work means to her. The award was won by the inspiring and hard working people at NOAH - for dyrs rettigheter.

Veganermat

nicest service 2017

From cooking classes and vegan holidays to caterers and weekly boxes of vegan food delivered right to your door. There are many different vegan friendly services out there which make our life so much easier. The inspirational Martin Smedjeback came to Norway to present the first ever Nice Award for Nicest Service. Nominees for this award included catering company Gå Vegan, lifestyle and fitness coaches Grønn og Gira, cooking class organisers Veganplan, Food hampers from Den Grønne Kassa and Nettmatt, online store Veganlife, and travel company Veganreise. The winner was Veganermat, a fantastic online store selling all sorts of great vegan products.

Oatly

nicest brand 2017

We love brands that put ethics at the forefront of their business, letting it shine through their products, their customer service and their style. There are a number of fantastic brands which we hold close to our heart here at Vegan Norway. Margit Selsjord, the leader of Norsk Vegansamfunn took to the stage to announce the nominees for this category which included Oumph!, Alpro, Violife, Follow your Heart, Astrid Och Aporna, Goody Good Stuff, and Berit Nordstrand. The clear winner of this award though was Oatly, and we were so happy to welcome them up onto the stage to collect their award.