Henry Bush, Key Account Manager at Swiss Wellness was awarded the 2026 Joe Berry Award at a ceremony hosted by Activate Group Australia last night

Now in its 40th year, the essay-based award program is aimed at unearthing outstanding executives aged up to 35 from all parts of the industry, including retailers, suppliers, service providers and wholesalers.

Six finalists were invited to present their chosen topics in front of a judging panel of 30 industry executives at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners’ Australian head office in North Sydney.

Mr Bush presented on GLP-1: The Transformation Risks Facing the Wellness Category.

The other finalists and their topics were:

• Marlon Holloway, Vendor Manager at Amazon: Gen AI – The Shift from Trend Detection to Trend Orchestration in Retail.
• Jade Buckley, Cyber technology Graduate at Woolworths – AI & Loyalty: Hyperpersonalisation vs Privacy Invasion
• Chelsea McMillan, FMCG Commercial Leader at Oxyshred / EHP Labs: GLP-1: Less on the Plate, More at Stake.
• Candice Simons, Communication & Engagement Manager at Coles: AI-Enabled Information Sharing in Retail.
• Samantha Karzon, Account & Business Development Manager: From Points to Play: How gaming Rewrites the Rules of Retail Loyalty.

Following the presentation session, the awards ceremony was held at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

The finalists of the AFGC Future Leaders Scholarship (open to emerging leaders under 30) were also given an opportunity to speak on their topic. Olivia Noble, Assistant Category Manager at Arnott’s was awarded the Scholarship.

In a surprise presentation, long-serving Joe Berry Award Chair and Activate CEO Keith Quigg was inducted into the inaugural Activate Joe Berry Award Hall of Fame.

Full coverage of the event and the winning essay will appear in the July issue of Retail World magazine.