Best Animal-Friendly Luxury Fashion

Stella McCartney

Total glamour. Totally feminine. And all made from natural plant fibres and synthetics (i.e., no leather or fur). Stella's designer fashion lets buyers look chic and sexy in thigh-high black boots and ultra-glamorous "skin-free" party shoes! In 2005, Stella teamed with fur-free High Street retailer H&M to give shoppers all over the UK the chance to wear her label. Stella's clothing items were snatched up within hours!

Best Cruelty-Free Personal-Care Product

Kingfisher Toothpaste

Kingfisher Toothpaste contains no bee pollen, GMO ingredients or animal-derived glycerine, humectants or enzymes, and it's not tested on animals. In fact, when faced with a European Economic Union directive to test on animals, Kingfisher was told it would have to start testing its products on animals or stop selling them. Kingfisher said it would rather stop trading than comply. Luckily for animals and everyone who wants to make cruelty-free choices when shopping for toothpaste, this initiative never became law and the company is still trading! Kingfisher Toothpaste is made with all-natural ingredients, including coconut, mint and lemon.

Best New Faux-Meat Product

Cheatin' Chicken-Style Pieces by Redwood Wholefood Company

Redwood has produced a delicious new faux meat which PETA staffers were lucky enough to taste-test. Redwood's Cheatin' Chicken-Style Pieces will be available via mail order in April and in shops in May and are almost certain to be a hit with health-conscious and ethical vegans. They can be used instead of Kentucky Fried Cruelty's food and seem guaranteed to draw lots of people to vegan eating. In addition to being free of animal ingredients, Redwood's foods are also free of cholesterol, hydrogenated fats, GMOs and artificial colours and preservatives. Redwood also makes sage-and-onion slices, vegetarian rashers, tempeh rashers, schnitzels, gourmet meat-free sausages in oregano-and-basil and sage-and-marjoram styles, ready-to-eat Lincolnshire and sage-and-marjoram sausages and falafel as well as "fish"-style foods such as fishless fingers, "smoked salmon", "tuna" pâté, fishless steaks and "scampi".

Best Humane Wildlife Innovation

Rentokil Initial (RADAR Pestconnect)

Unlike cruel poisons, glue traps, backbreaking snap traps and live traps which aren't checked frequently, Rentokil Initials' RADAR Pestconnect unit humanely traps mice and rats and gently and instantly euthanises them with carbon dioxide – without prolonged distress. Consumers spend millions of pounds each year on mousetraps, poisons and exterminators in an effort to control rodent populations, which causes an enormous amount of suffering and a traumatic death for the animals they catch and kill. Pestconnect provides a peaceful death for mice and rats and then sends a text message to a local "controller" to come empty and reset the trap. This innovative and thoughtful product will prevent millions of mice and rats from suffering painful deaths.

Best Travel and Tour Operations

Naturetrek

Whether you want to go bird watching in Southern Morocco, explore South Africa's spectacular Drakensberg Mountains or go to Canada to observe the behaviour of majestic polar bears, Naturetrek will take you there. Naturetrek organises bird- and wildlife-watching holidays, tours, treks and cruises guided by expert naturalists, ornithologists and botanists. Providing fun for you and funds for animals, Naturetrek donates 10 per cent of the income from some of its tours to wildlife and conservation organisations.

Best Vegetarian Bed and Breakfast

Fern Tor

At Fern Tor, a vegetarian and vegan guest house, visitors can relax on 12 beautiful acres, explore the beaches, moors and other attractions of the North Devon Coast, Exmoor and Mid Devon and enjoy gourmet meals made from home-grown organic produce. Guests should bring their appetites when they come, because all their meals are guaranteed to be hearty, humane, healthy and absolutely delicious. For breakfast, the menu includes fresh and stewed fruits and homemade granola, porridge, scrambled tofu, vegan pancakes with maple syrup or a cooked plate with tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, potatoes, vegan "sausages" and homemade bread, and faux "bacon"! If you have your appetite back in time for dinner, dine on olive, spring-onion, cannelloni-bean and sun-dried tomato dips with crudités, Mediterranean tarts and aduki-bean pies and puddings such as apple-and-pear crumble, banana-and-mincemeat tart or the truly wicked sticky pudding! The lovely folk at Fern Tor share their home with many rescued animals including 24 rabbits, 2 dogs, 6 guinea pigs, 4 goats, 4 sheep and 20 chickens and Treacle, the pot-bellied pig!

Best Animal-Friendly Movie

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

With giant vegetables, a focus on humane wildlife control and an anti-hunting message, it's no wonder Nick Park, the original creator of Wallace and Gromit, calls this new film "a vegetarian horror movie". In their new feature-length movie, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Wallace and his loyal canine companion, Gromit, are preparing for their town's Annual Giant Vegetable Competition and running a highly successful business using their "Anti Pesto" contraption, which humanely dispatches rabbits who are trying to eat all the entrants! Viewers watch the battle between Victor, the vile hunter who is trying to kill all the rabbits, and the compassionate duo, Wallace and Gromit, who are trying to remove them without causing harm. Animal lovers and vegetarians of every age will cheer as kindness prevails!

Best Vegan-Friendly National Food Chain

Wagamama

Wagamama, a popular chain of Japanese noodle restaurants, serves a wonderful range of healthy, tasty, delicately flavoured vegetarian and vegan dishes. Plus, the chefs will happily make vegetarian dishes vegan. No one can resist Wagamama's many scrumptious vegan meals, especially the yasai itameru, which features stir-fried bok choy, tofu, red onion, bean sprouts, sweet potato and coriander on top of yummy rice noodles swimming in a spicy coconut soup. Wagamama also offers two delicious vegan desserts which are sweet and filling but not fattening – wild berry sorbet and fresh fruit lollies!

Best Cruelty-Free Purse or Wallet

Bourgeois Bohème

Always hip and humane, Bourgeois Bohème started its business of animal-friendly fashion accessories in May 2005. The company has men and women's vegan fashion accessories such as bags, wallets, purses, scarves, belts, jewellery, beauty products and footwear. When sourcing its products, the company aims to use ingredients which have a minimal impact on the environment, are produced in non-exploitative working conditions and are cruelty-free, natural and organic.

Best Animal-Friendly Television Programme

Dispatches

Produced by Twenty Twenty Television and broadcast by Channel 4, Dispatches was the highest-rating current-affairs series in 2005. The series included two especially animal-friendly, enlightening and exploratory programmes, "What's Really in Your Christmas Dinner?" and a two-part programme "Supermarket Secrets," which helped educate viewers about the filthy conditions and cruel treatment of animals in factory farms.

In the former, journalist Jane Moore showed the suffering that traditionally carnivorous Christmas celebrations cause for animals and human health. Especially eye-opening was video footage from inside the factory farms where turkeys and pigs are intensively reared. In "Supermarket Secrets", Moore looked at the cost consumers and animals are paying for cheap, homogenised, convenient supermarket food. Undercover video footage taken inside a chicken broiler house and an examination of the miserable lives of dairy cows reinforced how bad the conditions are for animals used for meat and milk.

Best Cruelty-Free Shoe Retailer

Vegetarian Shoes

When Robin Webb first opened Vegetarian Shoes in 1990, all the shoes were made by hand! Over the years, it's become a booming business which sells all types of shoes for both sexes, including glam, casual, sports, work, safety and summer styles. The company's shoes are sold from selected stores around the UK and online from its Brighton store, from which they can be shipped around the world. Need something to go with your shoes? They also have pleather jackets for biker boys, heavy-metal rockers and biker/rocker wanabees!

Best Animal-Friendly Video Game

'Nintendogs'

With the lifetime commitment they need, real puppies don't belong under the Christmas tree. Instead, you can now ask Father Christmas for "Nintendogs", an amazing bit of technology which allows you to raise up to three adorable puppies. You can teach your pups new tricks: Just speak into the system's microphone and they'll respond to the voice commands you've taught them, then use the DS touch screen to play with your puppy. Nintendogs even has modes that support a wireless connection. The American version features Labrador retrievers, miniature schnauzers, toy poodles, Pembroke Welsh corgis, miniature pinschers and Shiba inus. The Japanese edition features Shibas, Shetland sheepdogs, toy poodles, Welsh corgis and miniature pinschers. We want a mutt, but ….

Best Cruelty-Free Cosmetics

The Body Shop

Not only does The Body Shop offer a wide range of fabulous vegan and vegetarian products, it's also never been shy when it comes to campaigning against animal testing. The Body Shop's "Against Animal Testing" banners deliver the message to shoppers in its stores, and there is substantial information about alternatives to animal tests on its Web site. The company even asks customers to write letters to companies which still test on animals, such as by putting mascara in rabbits' eyes and pouring cologne down guinea pigs' throats. The Body Shop also uses – and provides financial support to further the development of – modern alternatives to animal testing.

Best Non-Dairy Food Product

Swedish Glace

A delicious non-dairy "ice cream" made from a blend of soya and non-hydrogenated vegetable oils, Swedish Glace comes in a variety of flavours, including Rich Chocolate, Smooth Vanilla, Strawberry Ripple, Raspberry Ripple, Mocha and Coffee Ripple and Soft Caramel! Made by Fayrefield Foods, a large UK dairy company which has branched out to accommodate those who are lactose-intolerant, vegan, health-conscious and concerned about studies linking dairy products to prostate cancer and other health problems, Swedish Glace is 100 per cent cholesterol-, gluten- and animal-free – and 100 per cent yummy! So run, don't walk, to the ice cream section of your supermarket and treat yourself to a scoop of Swedish Glace today!

Courage in Commerce

Topshop

Topshop, which has always had a firm fur-free policy, has become a commendable leader in High Street fashion. In addition to offering a wonderful selection of fashionable faux-fur clothing, Topshop also worked with PETA to create a new logo and buttons to publicly announce its fur-free policy and set up colourful "All Our Fur Is Fake" window displays in its Oxford Street flagship store in London. The logo, a rabbit outline set against a lime green background, was featured in all 290 Topshop stores nationwide.

Best Cruelty-Free Skin Care

Neal's Yard Remedies

Sold at more than 180 stockists and stores throughout the UK, all Neal's Yard Remedies products are either vegetarian or vegan. Proving the company is extremely animal-friendly by denouncing all animal testing because of the dubious results and the abhorrent practices, Neal's Yard not only never tests on animals, it also supports research into alternatives to animal testing. Neal's Yard is also an environmentally responsible company which uses recyclable packaging and gives customers a refund when they return empty jars, bottles and tubes.

Best Cruelty-Free Athletic Shoe

New Balance

Think you can only get a high-quality athletic shoe in leather? Think again! Whether you kickbox, run laps, or just like a walk in the park, New Balance has an animal-friendly shoe for you! Constructed from synthetic leather and breathable mesh, New Balance athletic shoes are terrific for the compassionate consumer who likes to keep fit – and they have the added advantage of being washable.

Best Vegan Snack Product

United Biscuits' McVitie's HobNobs

An English favourite which most fans of the biscuit don't even realise is vegan! HobNobs are the delicious crumbly oaty biscuits-of-choice for PETA Europe's London-based staff. For those watching their waistlines, there are also McVitie's Light HobNobs. United Biscuits, the makers of HobNobs, offers vegans even more variety by also producing Crawford's Cream Cracker (Portion Pack), Crawford's Finger Nice, Crawford's Marie, Crawford's Morning Coffee, Crawford's Nice 250g, Crawford's Oat & Wholemeal, Crawford's Pink Wafer, Crawford's Shortcake, Crawford's Thin Arrowroot, Go Ahead Granola Bars – Almond, Raisin & Cranberry, McVitie's Digestive – Lemon & Ginger, McVitie's Fruit Shortcake, McVitie's Ginger Nuts and McVitie's Light Digestive.

Best Cruelty-Free Online Vendor

VeganStore.co.uk

Everything you need to live la vida vegan in one place: clothes, footwear, sweets, chocolates, cosmetics, books, candles, stickers, magnets, cleaning products, vitamins and many other goods and goodies! This online store makes it easy for you to eat, dress and decorate without any animal bits and pieces involved.

Best New Vegan Convenience Food

Pure 'n' Pronto Ready Meals by Simply Organic

Founded in 1998 by dynamic duo Belinda and Christine, Pure 'n' Pronto outdid itself when it created Fruitality, a vegan "little bottle health drink" similar to Actimel/Yakult but organic and dairy-free and made with oat milk, apples, bananas and berries in 2005 (see Fruitality.co.uk). The future is looking bright for this great company as it prepares to launch two new vegan ready meals – an aduki-bean casserole and a spinach-and-chickpea casserole as well as some new soups, including lentil, sweet-potato and coconut later this year. In the meantime, help yourself to Pure 'n' Pronto's other delicious vegan ready meals, including Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables With Quinoa, Lentil and Winter-Vegetable Stew, Mixed Bean Chilli and Thai Vegetable Curry With Green Lentils, which can be found at your local Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrison and Safeway stores.

Best Vegan Chocolate

Booja Booja's Organic Chocolate Truffles

What could be better than organic vegan truffles which taste heavenly? Nothing, of course! Booja Booja makes indulgent truffles in Midnight Espresso, Hazelnut Crunch, Ginger Wine, Cognac-Flambéed Banana or the simply magical Champagne. They're perfect for Valentine's Day or for any day you want to show a little love to your taste buds and animals.

Company of the Year

Holland and Barrett

Holland and Barrett – a leading UK chain which stocks an extensive range of food supplements, health foods, herbal remedies and vitamins and minerals – also offers a huge variety of vegan and vegetarian foods and produce. Dedicated to promoting a healthy and humane lifestyle, Holland and Barrett offers its customers a link to the "Health Notes" Web site, which has vegan and vegetarian nutrition and health information as well as lots of delicious vegan and vegetarian recipes.

Animal-Friendly Film Director of the Year

Luc Jacquet for March of the Penguins

A smash hit which has waddled its way into the hearts of animal lovers everywhere, March of the Penguins is a documentary film about Emperor penguins enduring an Antarctic winter. Their struggle to survive in a "region so bleak, so extreme, it supports no other wildlife at this time of year" has been expertly captured by French director Luc Jacquet. This moving and beautiful film has woken up millions of viewers to the wonder of nature, the awe-inducing feats of birds and the pristine ice wilderness by showing the penguins supporting and nurturing each other in family groups and surviving only by their inspiring sense of community.

Best Line of Cruelty-Free Household Products

Ecover

Proud to say that it is against all animal testing and has never performed or commissioned any animal testing, Ecover offers consumers compassion and convenience with its washing-up liquids, laundry detergents and other general cleaning products. Available in 22 countries and at all leading UK supermarkets, such as Tesco and Sainsburys, Ecover's products are all vegan except for the company's chamomile-and-marigold washing-up liquid, which contains whey.

Progressive Country of the Year

Italy

In the past two years, cities throughout Italy have passed a series of animal welfare laws which help the animal world get a fair shake. Most impressive was last year's Roman law, which requires dog guardians to walk their dogs at least four times every day, prohibits tail-docking for aesthetic reasons, and bans keeping fish in bowls, halting the practice of giving animals as prizes at fairgrounds. In 2004, Rome passed a law levying stiff fines for abandoning an animal companion. That same year, Turin passed a law requiring dog walks three times per day, and a law passed in Reggio Emilia that same year banned the boiling of live lobsters. The city councillor behind the Roman law said, "It's good to do whatever we can for our animals who in exchange for a little love fill our existence with their attention. The civilization of a city can also be measured by this".