Food & Drink
Sussex is blessed with a wealth of glorious food and drink, from the beautiful green downs and its coastal waters to the huge number of creative and hardworking producers and manufacturers in the county, who are creating awardwinning food and drink every day.
The Sussex Food and Drink Awards are the only awards that highlight, recognise and support Sussex farmers and producers and the businesses which sell and promote their produce. Mayo Wynne Baxter has long been a proud supporter of all things Sussex and again will be a sponsor for these awards. Along with my colleague Simon Baillie-Hamilton I have the enviable task of judging the ‘Best Eating Experience’ category. This does involve mystery shopping the shortlisted entrants and ‘no’ you cannot come with us. Back in June Nicholas Soames MP opened public voting for the finalists at the South of England Show VIP opening breakfast which was hosted by Penelope Keith CBE DL. The 68 finalists in this year’s awards were nominated by the public and assessed by us judges along with newly appointed chair William Goodwin and I have to say that the standard is incredibly high this year and the competition is going to be extremely tough. Paula Seager, co-director of Natural Partnerships CIC, who runs the awards, said: “It’s going to be another really exciting year for the awards with some truly excellent candidates including lots of new names, as well as some familiar ones, who have made it onto the shortlist. The Sussex Food and Drink Awards, now in their eighth year, has Olympic gold medal winner, Sally Gunnell OBE, as it’s patron who is a great supporter of locally produced food believing that it is the way forward for a healthy lifestyle.
Sussex
Awards
It’s going to be another really exciting year for the awards with some truly excellent candidates
Voting for these prestigious awards closes mid September and the top three that receive the most votes in each category are re-considered by the awards judges to become grand finalists. These will be announced in November and all grand finalists will be invited to THE foodie event of the year, the Sussex Food & Drink Awards banquet at the Amex Stadium on Thursday 30th January 2014. To see who made it onto the shortlist or to book your space at the banquet visit www.sussexfoodanddrinkawards.biz
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