The BIAs will see eight winners while Bed Show will have a record number of exhibitors.
The National Bed Federation has eight categories for its highly coveted Bed Industry Awards for 2024, honouring the brightest and best in the bed market.
The awards showcase the very best in inspiration, design and innovation among NBF supporting retailers, member manufacturers and suppliers. 2024’s lineup includes four awards for NBF member manufacturers and suppliers and four for retailers that predominantly stock NBF-approved member brands.
‘The NBF’s Bed Industry Awards are among the most coveted accolades for the UK and Irish bed trade. Winning sets you apart from your competitors and is an excellent opportunity to further promote your business and achievements. Each year, we continue to be hugely impressed by the standard of entries, and we’re sure 2024 will be no different,’ says Tristine Hargreaves, NBF executive director.
The retailer awards will see battle between those participating in the NBF’s Retail Champions Scheme, which supports businesses whose product offer is at least 50% from NBF-approved member brands, across four categories. The Small NBF Retail Champion of the Year is for retailers with four stores or fewer, recognising the contributions of the independent retailers. The Large NBF Retail Champion of the Year is for retailers with five to 20 stores, recognising the contributions of larger independent retailers. The National Bed Retailer of the Year is for businesses with more than 20 stores. The Online Bed Retailer of the Year is for businesses where at least 80% of the sales are via the Internet. The retailer awards are judged by Bernard Eaton, Greenwood Retail md; Dan Squires, Big Furniture Group editor, and Jarrod Bird, Interiors Monthly sales director.

There are also four manufacturing and supplier awards open to NBF members, ranging from individual products to achievements and innovations at a company level.
The Bed Product of the Year award includes mattresses, headboards, bed frames and sofa beds. Joanna Fielding, AIS beds category manager makes her judging debut this year for this award. Returning to the panel is Steve Adams, Mattress Online founder and ceo and Sue Davies, Sue Davies Design Solutions owner and BekaertDeslee agent. Joining them is James Dunne, Prestige Beds operations director and Paul Farley, Furniture News editor.
The Bed Manufacturer of the Year and Supplier of the Year awards recognise achievements and innovations at a company level. New to the panel for these awards is Brian Ahern, Furniture Makers’ Company master. He is joined by David Fitzsimons, director of circular economy consultants Oakdene Hollins and of the European Remanufacturing Council and Jonathan Hindle, British Furniture Confederation chairman, KI Europe md and president and founder of the Design Guild Mark.
The Component Product of the Year is awarded to the supplier with the most innovative component product or machine used in manufacturing a finished product. Returning for the award is a panel of NBF member judges: Natalie Armstrong, Sealy UK product and brand manager; Danny Blackmore, Silentnight operations director and Dave Morris, Sleepeezee purchasing director.
The theme for this year’s awards is all things ballroom and glitter, with Strictly Come Dancing star Anton Du Beke set to host the event – which this year features a live band and dancing for the first time since pre-Covid. There will be an element of a busman’s holiday for Du Beke, as before he became a dancing professional he worked as a bed salesman.
The awards take place on the evening of 24 September, after the first day of Bed Show at Telford International Centre.

Voted Best Furniture Exhibition (UK) for the third year running by Interiors Monthly’s readers, the annual Bed Show is preparing once again to open its doors to the bed industry.
‘We are proud and delighted to be the recipients of this award for the third year running,’ says Hargreaves. ‘It is of course a tribute to the team’s hard work in putting together the show, the awards and gala dinner and awards ceremony. But it’s also an acknowledgment of just how central to the UK’s bed industry the event has become.’
This year will see a record number of exhibitors, with more than 70 brands showing their latest innovations and developments in products and marketing support. No other event gives access to such breadth and depth of representation, from all the biggest players in the industry – such as Airsprung, Deep Sleep, Dura Beds, Harrison Spinks, Highgrove, Hypnos, Millbrook, Relyon, Sealy UK, Silentnight, Simba Sleep and Sleepeezee – to smaller players such as Burgess Beds, H Living and MA Living, and plenty in between.
From headboards to convertibles, pockets to foam, high end to budget, there are products for every sector of the market, and all are produced by members of the NBF, which must meet the conditions of the association’s strict Code of Practice. This is underpinned by rigorous independent auditing to ensure they are complying with the UK’s regulations on fire safety, cleanliness, trade descriptions and other legal requirements such as textile composition labelling. Many are also signatories to the NBF’s Pledge for Our Planet and are therefore making strenuous effort to progress towards reducing their carbon emissions and making their products more eco-friendly.
As usual there will be celebrations: Sealy UK is marking 50 this year, Sleepeezee has clocked up 100 years, so there will be cakes. But cakes aren’t the only reason to be there. For everyone exhibiting, Bed Show is the major launchpad of the year – both in finished product but also the key industry suppliers exhibiting.
The Suppliers Zone is again a major feature, with the likes of Boyteks, CPS Group, Enkev, Flex 2000, Handy, John Cotton, Kayfoam, Leggett & Platt, Maes, Nestor Springs, Rawsons, Vita Group and Wolf Components revealing their latest developments, which will be making their way into the new bed products shown this year and in future. A select group of guest exhibitors will also be present.
‘The Bed Show is the flagship event of the industry. It’s great to see all the innovation that people have worked so hard to bring out. We get to bring that to our business and it make us more successful,’ says Mike Murray, Land of Beds md.
‘You get everything in one place, everything that you need. It’s easy,’ says Sandra Humble, Linthorpe Beds director.
‘We come every year. It’s a great place, with new products and good suppliers,’ says Zarar Aslam, Masterfoam director.
Once again, visitors will receive complimentary refreshment to use at the three in-hall cafes. The largest of these, in Hall 1, will offer a selection of hot and cold meals and caters for all dietary requirements, with light refreshments available from the cafes in Halls 2 and 3.
