Nominations Open for Convenience Store News’ 2026 Category Excellence Awards

CHICAGO (December 1, 2025) – Convenience Store News is now accepting nominations for its 2026 Category Excellence Awards program, which recognizes outstanding collaborations between a retailer category manager and their supplier or distributor partner. 

Now in its second year, the Category Excellence Awards spotlight the power of partnership in the c-store industry, as teamwork is essential for winning executions and overall success. 

Nominations are being accepted in the following award categories: 

• New Product Launch Excellence

• Exclusive Product Collaboration Excellence

• Planogram Excellence

• Promotion Excellence

• Digital & Loyalty Excellence

• Data Utilization Excellence

• Overall Partnership Excellence 

  
  

Nominations may be submitted by a convenience store retailer, supplier or distributor. Entries must detail the contributions of both sides of the collaboration. Nominations that fail to do so will be disqualified from consideration. Nominators are encouraged to cite specific initiatives and results achieved within the past 12 months. 

Collaborations in all edible and nonedible product categories are eligible for entry, as well as fuels, loyalty, technology, lottery/gaming, ATM and car wash. 

Click here to submit a nomination.

There is no fee for entry and no limit to the number of entries a company or individual can submit. All nominations must be received by Jan. 9, 2026. Winners will be notified the week of Feb. 2 and spotlighted in the March 2026 issue of Convenience Store News, accompanied by an announcement on CSNews.com during the month of March. 

In 2025, the program’s inaugural year, 19 outstanding collaborations were honored as winners.