Ideal Bite

Seven Breakthrough Companies Take Home Top Honors at Awards Ceremony in New York City
   
(New York, December 5, 2008)- Recipients of the 2008 Best in Green (B.I.G.) Awards were crowned last night at the Ideal Bite (www.idealbite.com) B.I.G Awards Party held at GreenHouse, New York City’s first green nightclub.  Winners were named in seven individual categories including: Home, Health & Beauty, Style, Food, Fun, Everyday/Living, and Next in Green.  These companies, products and services were selected from the thousands tested by Ideal Bite’s team of expert editors.  Celebrities from both the environmental and entertainment world including, Gabrielle Union, Vanessa Carlton, Gossip Girls’ Connor Paolo, Model/DJ Sky Nellor, Ugly Betty’s Tony Plana and Take Home Chef,  Curtis Stone came together to toast the night’s big winners.

For the Next in Green Award (dubbed the “People’s Choice” of the B.I.G Awards), Ideal Bite’s editors nominated their favorite five up-and-coming eco-preneurs, who are doing extraordinary things on behalf of a healthier planet.   Ideal Bite then opened up final voting to their 380,000 subscribers nationwide.  This particular award is sponsored by MSN Green.  MSN Green also presented the 2008 Next in Green Award Winner, Josie Maran Cosmetics, with a $10,000 grant to help further the company’s great, green initiatives.  Maran herself was on hand to except the award, given to her by actress Gabrielle Union.

“This year’s B.I.G. Award winners embody what our ‘light-green living ethos’ is all about—combining practicality and style with personal and planetary wellness.  In short, we keep it real,” stated Ideal Bite co-founder, Jen Boulden.  “We started Ideal Bite with the mission of creating big change by empowering everyday people with small ‘bites’ of knowledge that go a long way to bettering our world.  These seven, extraordinary companies share this same mission and we are thrilled to honor them,” added co-founder, Heather Stephenson.

All B.I.G. Award winners took home a signature B.I.G Award statue called “the bitey” which was handcrafted from recycled metal from designer Ole Nelson, a local artisan from Bozeman, MT.

Celebrity guests and VIP’s arrived in natural gas powered town cars provided by LimoGreen. Eco friendly cocktails were served courtesy of VeeV, a spirt derived from the sustainably harvested acai fruit.

The 2008 Best in Green (B.I.G.) Award Winners are:

T.E.D, The Energy Detective (Home): The Energy Detective is an easy-to-use gadget that could save you 10-20% on your energy bill by snooping out where your home is using (and wasting) the most energy.

ecoTOOLS (Health & Beauty):  ecoTOOLS are expertly crafted (yet budget friendly) beauty tools made from sustainable materials such as bamboo and recycled aluminum. ecoTools also donates 1% of its annual sales to 1% For The Planet®, an alliance of businesses committed to leveraging their resources to create a healthier planet.
   
END Footwear (Style): END footwear (short for Environmentally Neutral Design) is stepping out with revolutionary designs and responsible business practices. END minimizes the use of raw materials and reduces manufacturing waste in the development, creation, and construction of athletic shoes that don’t skimp on style in the name of practicality.

FishPhone (Food):  FishPhone is a simple text service that instantly puts sustainable seafood information at your fingertips while food shopping or ordering off a menu.  By sending a text to 30644 with the message FISH in all caps, followed by the name of the fish you want to know about, you can immediately find out about how healthy and sustainable any type of seafood really is.

Amazon Kindle (Fun):  Kindle is a revolutionary e-book reader that makes paper books and newspaper practically obsolete.  Kindle doesn’t use paper or require extra fuel to ship the many books and magazines on your reading list—plus, once you make the initial investment, it can save you money, since it offers books, magazine and newspaper subscriptions at discounted prices. 

smart fortwo (Everyday/Living): This itty-bitty, planet-friendlier car-to-watch can save you well over $1,000 per year on gas.  The smart fortwo’s revolutionary design comes with all the big time amenities of full-size cars, but in half the space.

Josie Maran Cosmetics (Next in Green, sponsored by MSN Green): Coined “beauty without the baggage,” each product is made with organic ingredients rather than petrochems or parabens.  Every product in this line looks as good as it feels and comes in eco-friendly packaging that is either recyclable or compostable.    

Further information about the B.I.G. Awards and the 2008 Winners can be found at www.idealbite.com/bigawards.

ABOUT IDEAL BITE:
Founded by Jen Boulden and Heather Stephenson in early 2005, Ideal Bite offers daily bite-sized ideas for light-green living. Easy eco-living tips are presented in a short, sassy and free email each weekday that is delivered to more than 380,000 subscribers nationwide. Ideal Bite's mission is to create a more sustainable world through incremental environmentalism - small changes that truly add up.


Media Contacts:
Melissa Baer, Blake Ross
Sunshine, Sachs & Associates
212-691-2800
Baer@sunshinesachs.com
Ross@sunshinesachs.com