The public voted in their thousands for their festive favourites in the inaugural Newcastle Christmas Market trader awards. Voting closed on Friday with over 2,000 votes cast by the public, with the winners announced on Monday 15th December.
Newcastle City Council and NE1 have worked together to deliver Newcastle’s Christmas Market, with a strong focus on quality and local traders. This year, 84% of traders were based within a 20-mile radius of Newcastle, giving the market a unique North East flavour. To celebrate the traders who have helped make the city’s winter markets such a huge success, the first-ever Trader Awards were launched.
Top of the traders was Crumbling, who took home the title of Newcastle’s Christmas Market Trader of the Year 2025. The queues waiting for their crumble and custard would testify that the team from South Shields brought the festive cheer to this year’s market with their mouth-watering offer, and hundreds of voters agreed. Their warm welcome, standout flavours and strong connection with customers captured the true spirit of the season, making them a firm favourite with visitors and judges alike and a highlight of Newcastle’s Christmas Market this year.
Powder Butterfly was voted Best Newcomer for her beautifully crafted collection of North East themed gifts inspired by photography of her favourite places across the region. The prize also reflected the winner’s commitment to supporting other local traders in the market.
Best Marketing went to the jewellery designer, Konatsu, with their range of personalised charm bracelets and fine jewellery.
The Best Dressed award was presented to the Eco Stall, with its range of plastic-free, zero-waste everyday home essentials, beauty and self-care products.
Best Festive Exclusive went to Parm-o-rama for their merry menu, which included their Christmas special, their signature chicken Parmo burger topped with melted Brie, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pigs in blankets and festive loaded fries.
Best Team Spirit was awarded to Made of Crumbs, the local Morpeth-based team, who have temporarily closed their store to trade at Newcastle’s Christmas Markets. Their festive spirit has been evident for all to see, with members of the Made of Crumbs family stepping in to help staff the stall while the rest of the team baked more fresh goods, displaying great, award-winning team spirit.
Over 2,000 people voted in just one day for their favourite traders, highlighting how popular the Christmas Markets have been.
Ben Whitfield, Director of Communications at NE1, said: “Congratulations to all our award winners. We wanted to celebrate the hard work of the local traders who have brought the markets to life and given them their vibrancy and unique Geordie atmosphere, and we are delighted with the public response to the awards and the volume of votes.
“The winners will be able to display their trophies with pride for the last week of the markets, showcasing the high quality of this year’s traders, which I’m sure will help attract the very best talent from across the region for future events.
“We were delighted to award Crumbling the highest honour of Best Trader and will look forward to welcoming them back next year to enjoy their week’s free pitch at the Newcastle Christmas Market 2026.
“We placed a great emphasis on the quality of traders, the strength of the offer and the festive atmosphere created this year. The award winners exemplify these qualities, and we’d like to thank them for their efforts and to everyone for their votes.
“We still have a few days left to enjoy the markets, and we encourage everyone to come in soak up the festive atmosphere and support all the fantastic traders who make the Newcastle Christmas Market so special.”
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