Entries now Open for the Irish Food Writing Awards 2022
The Irish Food Writing Awards 2022 have just opened for entries for journalists, food writers, chefs, photographers and online content on Irish food. The awards were established last year to recognise and celebrate the high quality of food and drink writing throughout the island of Ireland, across print, broadcast, online and social.
The inaugural awards held in November 2021 were a huge success with many of Ireland’s best known food writers winning categories including Corinna Hardgrave from The Irish Times, Katy McGuinness Irish Independent, Joe McNamee from The Examiner and Aoife Carrigy from Irish Independent. Food and Wine magazine won the Food Magazine Award and Spicebags Podcast took away the Food Podcast Award with Cork food writer Lilly Higgins from Irish Times taking the Cookery Writing Award. A very memorable moment on the night was the posthumous awarding of the Outstanding Achievement award to wine writer Tomas Clancy presented to his family.
The judges are high profile international food writers and chefs; journalist and broadcaster Jay Rayner from The Guardian, Rene Redzepi from Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, author and food columnist Trish Deseine, The Telegraph restaurant critic Tom Parker Bowles, founder of Saveur magazine Colman Andrews, The Guardian wine writer Fiona Beckett, Andy Clarke drinks broadcaster with ITV and Nigel Barden food broadcaster with BBC are some of judges, numbering over twenty.
The awards are free to enter and attend for finalists through the support of Irish food companies who sponsor an award each. Organisers welcome the generous support shown by category sponsors including; Bord Bia, Invest NI, Ardkeen Grocery, James Whelan Butchers, Whelehans Wines, Pestle + Mortar, Fallon and Byrne, Gather & Gather, Safco Fine Foods, Drummond House Garlic and Powerscourt Distillery. Some opportunities for sponsorship remain.
Kerrygold are sponsoring an exciting new award for 2022 for culinary students. Students from Culinary Arts courses in colleges throughout Ireland whose entries are selected will compete in a cook off with the finalists going forward to the awards ceremony in October.
The Irish Food Writing Awards are the initiative of journalist and food author Suzanne Campbell, who said today “In our first year we were blown away by the success of the awards. It was brilliant to see the winners selected by the international panel of judges; they rewarded those with really high standards in food writing, journalism, photography and content. The cream really came to the top so it’ll be an even tougher competition this year!”
On board with Suzanne is Paul O’Connor, a food publicist and former restaurateur “The support has been fantastic and the sense of community from the Irish food businesses supporting the writers and food journalists who do such good work for the food sector. It couldn’t happen without them and it means the awards are free to enter and attend which is rare in media awards. We’ve already had entries coming in for 2022 so we’re anticipating another great year and awards event for the Irish food community.”
Nominations are now being accepted in all categories:
• Restaurant Writing, judged by Tom Parker Bowles and Xanthe Clay, sponsored by Fallon and Byrne
• Cookery Writing, judged by Trish Deseine and Esterelle Payany, sponsored by Ardkeen Grocery
• Wine Writing judged by Fiona Beckett, sponsored by Whelehans Wines
• Spirits Writing judged by Rachel McCormack, sponsored by Powerscourt Distillery
• Beer Writing judged by Richard Croasdale, sponsored by Brú Brewery
• Food Writing/Feature Article, judged by Colman Andrews, sponsored by Bord Bia
• Culinary Student Award sponsored by Kerrygold
• Writing on Sustainability in Irish Food, judged by Rene Redzepi and Catherine Mack
• Writing on Irish Food Producers, judged by Catherine Pike
• Investigative Writing, sponsored by Drummond House Garlic
• Writing on International Food in Ireland, judged by Anjula Devi, sponsored by Safco Fine Foods
• Food Magazine or Supplement, judged by Claire Finney, sponsored by Invest NI
• Cookbook of the Year, judged by Jay Rayner and Dr Annie Gray, sponsored by Gather & Gather
• Food Photographer of the Year, judged by Joann Pai
• Food Broadcast or Podcast, judged by Nigel Barden
• Food Blog Award judged by Andy Clarke, sponsored by Pestle + Mortar
• Emerging Food Writer of the Year
• Instagram/TikTok Irish Food Award
• Outstanding Contribution to Irish Food Writing, sponsored by James Whelan Butchers
The Irish Food Writing Awards recognise writing from throughout the island of Ireland. The awards are now open for entries, via the website, until the 31st of May http://www.irishfoodwritingawards.ie
Website is at http://www.irishfoodwritingawards.ie – Join the mailing list for updates!
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