CEW’s annual Beauty Insider Awards Product Demo will again serve as the ultimate event, a place for beauty industry insiders to vote on the prior year’s best beauty innovations. It’s there where CEW members will take full advantage of their voting benefits and peruse more than 800 products from more than 400 beauty brands, while also snacking on refreshments, meeting colleagues and receiving a complimentary Trend Report by visiting the event’s Beauty Insider Lounge. More than 2,000 CEW member executives are expected to attend this year’s event.

The Demo, to be held February 24 at the Metropolitan Pavilion (125 West 18th Street, New York, NY) will also include the adjacent Altman Building to feature products within 34 different categories, from which more than 200 finalists will be selected and announced in late March. Members will walk aisles and aisles of tabletop product demonstrations, judging items based on innovation, delivery system and packaging. Finalists will be voted on by CEW’s Board of Governors, as well as by select industry experts; winners will be announced May 13 at the 2016 CEW Beauty Insider Awards luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria New York. Ballots for both the finalists and winners are cast electronically and tabulated by Ernst & Young LLP. The presenting sponsor for the 2016 Beauty Awards Luncheon is Meredith Corporation.

This year’s Demo will feature several special elements, including enhanced media and consumer engagement and the addition of Best Beauty App as a category, which will one mobile beauty app that facilitates the education/discovery process or simplifies the beauty category for users. This year’s Most Buzzed About Award will also recognize both a mass and prestige brand that drove online buzz as a result of a successful digital strategy. As in past years, a Best Seller Award will be given within the mass and prestige channels of distribution; the Iconic Award will recognize a trendsetting product in mass and prestige that has created a new category of product; the Eco Beauty Award, presented by Givaudan, will recognize a brand for their sustainability efforts; and the Indie Brand Beauty Award will acknowledge an indie beauty company. Once again, CEW and QVC are partnering for QVC Beauty Quest, in which the TV retailer will select one brand to be featured on QVC in a CEW Beauty Awards Show in July.

Carlotta Jacobson, president of CEW, said, “This year the Beauty Insider Awards Product Demo will be bigger than ever—we received the highest number of entries from more companies than we’ve ever had in the history of the Beauty Awards. We’re looking forward to an exciting Beauty Award season and kicking it off with the Product Demo.”