Lift & Co. Canadian Cannabis Awards
A short, source-bound history of the annual industry awards run by Lift & Co., from a community vote that billed itself as a Canadian first to black-tie galas in Toronto.
- 749results on record
- 2014–2020years in our data
- 7editions
- 202matched to strains
- Canadalatest location
01How it began
The earliest trace in the source pack is a Daily Hive item reporting that Lift Cannabis Co. had opened voting for the first annual Canadian Cannabis Awards1. The awards were billed as the first of their kind in Canada, a chance for the country's medical marijuana community to honour people who were innovating and moving the field ahead1. The page prints no year in its own text, but it mentions a 2014 award, which points to 2014. Treat that as an inference, not a stated date.
The organisers also hoped to bring a somewhat splintered industry together, in line with Lift's stated aim of giving patients and other stakeholders a shared voice1. The community could vote on strains, licensed producers, dispensaries, head shops, clinics and social media accounts, with voting closing on September 23 and winners due on October 11. A special Canadian Cannabis Crusader award for 2014 named three nominees: lawyer John Conroy, Dr. Mark Ware and activist Jodie Emery1. The source never states the year for those voting dates.
02The story so far
The best-documented edition in the pack is 2018. Lift & Co. announced its winners on November 29, 2018, at a black-tie gala in Toronto, hosted by Rick Campanelli at the historic Carlu and attended by nearly 600 industry guests2. The company billed that year as the world's first awards for a federally regulated recreational cannabis market2. That is the organiser's own description, and the sources offer no outside check on it. Public voting ran from September 28 to October 26, 2018, and the release called turnout a record2.
Judging worked in three layers in 2018. Public votes settled most product, producer and influencer awards, a committee of judges decided 18 categories, and Lift & Co. chose five select awards itself2. CannTrust was the standout company of the night, with seven wins that included Licensed Producer of the Year2. Several categories were new that year, including Top Reviewed Product, Top Reviewed Licensed Producer and a Woman in Weed Trailblazer award3. For the first time, Lift & Co. also licensed the awards brand, striking a deal with curators AHLOT for a special-edition multi-pack, with distribution details still to be announced3.
The awards were tied to the Lift.co review site, and review volume fed two of the new Lift-chosen awards2. The numbering is a puzzle. The 2018 release calls its edition the fifth annual, and a later article calls the next round the sixth, yet the Daily Hive item speaks of a first annual round with a 2014 award124. The sources do not reconcile this, so neither does this page. The sixth edition was framed around the country's first full year of legalization, with winners due on November 8 at the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto4. The article prints no year, but a business opening it mentions points to 2019.
03Culture and character
Lift & Co. describes the awards as a way for winners and nominees to show quality to Canadians and build trust in the industry, with CEO Matei Olaru calling them a vital mark of distinction2. They honoured people as well as products. In 2018 Bruce Linton of Canopy Growth received the Lifetime Achievement award, and Rosy Mondin took the first Woman in Weed Trailblazer award3. The list also reached well past growers and sellers, with awards for writers, a community non-profit, a provincial government office, testing labs, trimmers, extraction gear, a podcast and a YouTuber3.
Staff opinion had a say too. The 2018 Employer of the Year was chosen through an employer survey run by Cannabis at Work2. The awards sat alongside other Lift & Co. events, which the company names as its Retail Tradeshows and Lift & Co. Expos2. By the sixth round, a profile series introduced the Entrepreneur of the Year nominees, and Superette was nominated five times, more than any other company4. MediPharm Labs, the 2018 Startup of the Year winner, was nominated again, and a founder called that an honour4. Another nominee remarked that a year in this industry feels like seven in ordinary life4.
04Where things stand
The pack documents no current status for the awards. The latest material is the sixth-edition nominee article, which says winners were due on November 8, with the year implied as 20194. Whether later editions ran, whether the awards continue, and whether the company still runs them are not documented in these sources, so this page does not guess. This page covers only the Lift & Co. Canadian Cannabis Awards, not any other awards programme with a similar name.
05What comes next
No announced future plans for the awards themselves were found in the sources. The only forward-looking item is the 2018 multi-pack, whose distribution details were still to be announced3. Nominees also mention their own business plans, but those are not plans for the awards. If Lift & Co. has said anything about future editions, it is not documented here.
The results, in our data
CannaLib holds 749 results from this cup across 7 years (2014 to 2020), 202 of them matched to a strain in the catalogue.
Recent first-place strains
| Year | Strain | Category | Entrant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Tangerine Dream | Top Sativa Flower | San Rafael '71 |
| 2019 | Pink Kush | Top Indica Flower | San Rafael '71 |
| 2019 | Midnight Oil | Top Balanced Bottled Oil | MedReleaf |
| 2018 | Og Kush | Top Sativa Flower | CannTrust |
| 2018 | Bakerstreet | Top Indica Flower | Tweed |
| 2018 | Blueberry Kush | Top Hybrid Flower | CannTrust |
| 2018 | Cannatonic | Top High CBD Flower | CannTrust |
| 2018 | Sunset | Top High THC Flower | Leafs by Snoop |
| 2018 | Penelope | Top Balanced Flower | Tweed |
| 2016 | God Kush | Indica | Broken Coast |
| 2016 | Luminarium | Sativa | MedReleaf |
| 2016 | Lemon Sour Diesel | Hybrid | Tilray |
| 2016 | Avidekel | CBD | MedReleaf |
| 2015 | Sedamen | LICENSED PRODUCERS CATEGORY / BEST INDICA FLOWER | MedReleaf |
Editions on record
- 2014 · Canada (online public vote)
- 2015 · Canada (online public vote)
- 2016 · Canada
- 2017 · The Carlu, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (gala 30 Nov 2017)
- 2018 · The Carlu, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (29 Nov 2018)
- 2019 · Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (8 Nov 2019)
Sources
- Canadian Cannabis Awards | Daily Hive | News
- Lift & Co. Announces Winners of the Fifth-Annual Canadian Cannabis Awards and Sets the Gold Standard for Cannabis Industry Excellence in Canada
- Lift & Co Announces 2018 Canadian Cannabis Awards – NCV Media
- A Roundup of This Year's Movers and Shakers: Meet the Canadian Cannabis Awards Entrepreneurs of the Year | Mugglehead
Written from the sources above and checked on 2026-10-29. Spot an error? Tell us on the contact page.