To celebrate the new year with a fresh start, DFNI is pleased to announce the launch of the DFNI Americas Awards 2021 as a special edition of our travel retail awards programme that will focus on the positives to emerge from 2020.

Against the backdrop of an unprecedented crisis, when the travel retail world saw international borders close, retailers shutter their doors and businesses scaling down, many took swift action to pivot the way they operate.

Airports, retailers and suppliers are thinking outside of the box and as such we are pleased to announce special categories for 2021 to recognise and celebrate how travel retail stakeholders have transformed through the crisis and their initiatives to support the community and do good.

Perhaps your business has stepped up its commitments to sustainability, provided the community with PPE or medical supplies or maybe you have adapted in a way that prevented job losses or even win new business. We feel these initiatives should be applauded.

The DFNI Americas Awards is part of our travel retail awards programme which also includes the DFNI Asia Awards and the Frontier Awards , set to launch in coming weeks.

The Americas Awards will take place as a virtual event as part of the Summit of the Americas – a Virtual Experience of which DFNI is an Official Preferred Media Partner. The virtual award ceremony will be held on 7 April 2021.

2021 Judges
Lending her renowned expertise and experience and part of our esteemed panel of judges for this special edition is Starboard Cruise Services President & CEO, Lisa Bauer who recently headlined DFNI’s virtual Cruise Seminar back in November.

Lisa is joined by Jim Pearce, General Manager at Peace Bridge Duty Free and Felipe Cogorno , owner of Grupo Cogorno which operates Shopping China , each representing one of the largest land border duty-free stores in Canada/North America and Latin America respectively. Additional judges will be announced imminently.

Special Categories
DFNI has developed special categories for this year in light of the unprecedented challenges that businesses have faced. This year we have chosen to celebrate the companies, teams and people that have made a real difference – whether it is in support of the industry, within their organisations or to the community. At the same time, we also hail the hero products that have made an impact with consumers in the travel retail arena in spite of the challenges the sector has faced.

New categories include the Exceptional Achievement by a Retailer awards, which will honour the exceptional achievement/s by retailers operating in each channel (airport, cruise, land border and inflight) in th e Americas against the backdrop of the unprecedented challenges of 2020 due to Covid-19.

The DFNI Americas Awards also provides companies operating in travel retail the chance to nominate a team within their organisation for its outstanding dedication and work through the challenges of the past year, however small or localised for the Team of the Year award.

The Hero Product of the Year awards, across all major categories, will celebrate the standout products in Americas travel retail over the past year.

For this year, our recognised Airport in the Americas with the Most Supportive Approach to Retail, Americas Supplier of the Year and Americas Travel Retailer of the Year awards will hail those companies that have been an example to the travel retail industry in their support of staff, partners and to the wider business.

For the full list of categories and to find out about our new awards including their entry criteria, click here .

Entries for the 2021 DFNI Americas Awards will close on Friday 26 February.