Embargoed to 00.01 26/06/09 Last night (25 June) in The Great Hall, Lincoln 's Inn, London the Guild of Food Writers announced the winners of their much coveted Annual Awards. The country's most famous food critic, the legendary Egon Ronay, presented the Awards on behalf of the Guild, to some of the industry�s finest writers and broadcasters. Amongst the 12 winners there were some familiar names and some new ones to add to the roll of honour. Leading the way were Guy Watson and Jane Baxter, whose Riverford Farm Cook Book won two awards, the Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food and the Jeremy Round Award for the Best First Book. Applauded by the judges for its 'honesty and integrity of vision, purpose and execution'; they welcomed its 'clean, appetising approach to recipe writing'. Two of the country's most well known figures were recognised with Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver winning Awards. Heston was presented with the Food Book of the Year Award for The Big Fat Duck Cookbook; the judges were 'impressed by the quality of the writing and the scope of the book: the concept, the historical perspective, the detailed recording of research and experiments, the keen intelligence that makes it so compelling and personal.' Jamie Oliver's campaigning Jamie's Ministry of Food television series and Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte's book The Future Control of Food were the joint winners of the Derek Cooper Award for Campaigning and Investigative Food Writing. This was an unprecedented double for Geoff who last year won the other Derek Cooper Award (for best food campaigner/educator) at the BBC's Food and Farming Awards. In the Awards league table, Fuchsia Dunlop and Diana Henry each won their second Guild Award; Mark Hix and Bee Wilson won their third; and BBC Radio Four's The Food Programme won its sixth. The crowning glory of the evening came when Guild President, Jane Suthering, surprised two of the Guild's most renowned members when she presented Lifetime Achievement Awards to pioneering restaurant reviewer Egon Ronay and celebrated cookery writer Mary Berry, who join the pantheon of the Guild's Life Members with Hugo Dunn-Meynell, Marguerite Patten, Katie Stewart, Grace Mulligan and Liz Burn. Guild president, Jane Suthering, commented on the evening: �The Awards ceremony is a highlight of the Guild year and last night was no exception. What a fantastic evening! Congratulations to all those who made the shortlist and especially to the winners.� Summary of winners: The Food Book of the Year Award Winner: Heston Blumenthal, The Big Fat Duck Cookbook ( Bloomsbury ) The other shortlistees were: Christine McFadden, Pepper: The Spice That Changed The World (Absolute Press) Christopher Stocks, Forgotten Fruits: A Guide to Britain 's Traditional Fruit and Vegetables (Random House) Bee Wilson , Swindled: From Poison Sweets to Counterfeit Coffee - The Dark History of the Food Cheats (John Murray) The Cookery Book of the Year Award Winner: Mark Hix, British Seasonal Food (Quadrille) The other shortlistees were: Xanthe Clay, Recipes To Know By Heart (Mitchell Beazley) Simon Daley and Roshan Hirani, Cooking with my Indian mother-in-law (Pavilion) The Kate Whiteman Award for Work on Food and Travel Winner: Fuchsia Dunlop, Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper (Ebury) The other shortlistees were: Stefan Gates, In The Danger Zone (Ebury) and BBC Four's Cooking in the Danger Zone Kevin Gould for With Love From ... features published in Waitrose Food Illustrated The Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food Winner: Guy Watson and Jane Baxter, Riverford Farm Cook Book (Fourth Estate) The other shortlistees were: BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme: Food and Farming Awards Mark Hix for Mark�s Kitchen articles published in Country Life magazine Clarissa Hyman for articles published in Country Living magazine The Derek Cooper Award for Campaigning and Investigative Food Writing Joint Winners: Channel Four's Jamie's Ministry of Food (Fresh One Productions) and Geoff Tansey and Tasmin Rajotte, The Future Control of Food: A Guide to International Negotiations and Rules on Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Food Security (Earthscan) The other shortlistee was: BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme: The Rice Crisis The Miriam Polunin Award for Work on Healthy Eating Winner: BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme: Nutritionism The other shortlistees were: Charlie Ayers, Eat Yourself Smart (Dorling Kindersley) Angela Nilsen for articles published in BBC Good Food magazine The Jeremy Round Award for the Best First Book Winner: Guy Watson and Jane Baxter, Riverford Farm Cook Book (Fourth Estate) The other shortlistees were: Anthony Demetre, Today's Special (Quadrille) Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, Ottolenghi: The Cookbook (Ebury) The Evelyn Rose Award for Cookery Journalist of the Year Winner: Diana Henry for articles published in The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine The other shortlistees were: Annie Bell for articles published in Waitrose Food Illustrated Elisabeth Luard for articles published in Country Living magazine The Restaurant Reviewer of the Year Award Winner: Emma Sturgess for reviews published in Metro The other shortlistees were: Jay Rayner for reviews published in The Observer magazine John Walsh for reviews published in The Independent magazine The Food Journalist of the Year Award Winner: Bee Wilson for articles published in The Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine The other shortlistee was: Katy Salter for articles published in Waitrose Food Illustrated The New Media Award Winner: Tim Hayward for his blog on The Guardian and The Observer's Word of Mouth (http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth) The other shortlistees were: Helen Yuet Ling Pang for the World Foodie Guide (http://www.worldfoodieguide.com) Elisabeth Winkler for Real Food Lover (http://realfoodlover.wordpress.com/) The Food Broadcast of the Year Award Winner: Simon Parkes for BBC Radio 4's You and Yours: Lunch The other shortlistees were: BBC1's Gastronuts (Objective Productions) BBC2's The Supersizers Go ... ( Silver River Productions) Lifetime Achievement Awards Mary Berry Egon Ronay Notes to Editors: THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARDS PARTY The country's most famous food critic, the legendary Egon Ronay, presented the Awards at this year's Guild of Food Writers' Awards, the UK 's biggest food book, writing and media awards. This year�s Guild of Food Writers� Awards ceremony was held on Thursday 25 June in The Great Hall, Lincoln 's Inn, London WC2A 3TL. The magnificent Great Hall - the largest of all the halls in the Inns of Court - was opened in 1845 by Queen Victoria and is where, four times a year, students of Lincoln's Inn are 'called to the bar', when they become barristers. The evening was compered by LBC's Bill Buckley. Over the last few years, the Awards has grown in scale and importance and now has 12 categories. This year's stunning venue was the biggest yet and hosted a ceremony that had extra significance in the Guild's 25th anniversary year. The delicious hot and cold canap� menu was specially devised by Executive Chef Allan Rogers and Gary Robinson Head Chef of the Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn in conjunction with the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (http://www.alaskaseafood.org) to showcase wonderful sustainable wild seafood including black cod, Pacific cod, crab, Wild Alaska King, Sockeye and Coho salmon and pollock. The Guild is delighted that Alaska Seafood has agreed to be the main sponsor for the Awards for the second year running. Equally exciting wines will be provided by Bonterra Vineyards, 100% organically grown wines from Mendocino County , California (http://www.bonterra.com). THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS AWARDS The Guild of Food Writers Awards were established in 1996, to be presented annually in recognition of outstanding achievement in any area in which food writers work and have influence. The awards are the only ones judged entirely by professional food writers, journalists and editors. This year, in addition to the existing eleven awards, we have added an Award for Work on Food and Travel in memory of Guild member Kate Whiteman who died tragically in a road accident in Argentina in January 2009. The full list of categories is: The Kate Whiteman Award for Work on Food and Travel The Derek Cooper Award for Campaigning and Investigative Food Writing or Broadcasting The Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food The Miriam Polunin Award for Work on Healthy Eating The Food Broadcast of the Year Award The New Media of the Year Award The Jeremy Round Award for Best First Book, The Food Book of the Year Award The Cookery Book of the Year Award The Restaurant Reviewer of the Year Award, The Food Journalist of the Year Award The Evelyn Rose Award for Cookery Journalist of the Year. THE GUILD OF FOOD WRITERS The Guild of Food Writers was founded 25 years ago, and is a professional association of food and cookery writers, journalist, broadcasters and editors in the UK and abroad, with a membership numbering over 370. For more information about the Guild of Food Writers or the Annual Awards please contact the administrator of the Guild of Food Writers, Jonathan Woods, mailto:jonathan@gfw.co.uk. http://www.gfw.co.uk ALASKA SEAFOOD For 50 years Alaska has been a world leader in sustainability. In 1959, when the State of Alaska was first established, the constitution mandated that all fish should be maintained sustainably. All Alaska Seafood is wild, and all of it is sustainable. Each fishery is assessed annually and is given a total catch quota. Once that quota is reached the fishery is closed - to preserve stocks for future generations. Entire communities have been intimately involved with the harvesting of Alaska 's seafood. Alaskans have always understood that the fishing industry cannot exist without a willingness to help enforce the sustainability practices set out by the State. http://www.alaskaseafood.org BONTERRA Bonterra Vineyards has been growing grapes and making wine organically since 1987, based in Mendocino County , California; it is considered to be one of the benchmark brands for organically grown wines. http://www.bonterra.com

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For further information please contact:

Jonathan Woods Email: jonathan@gfw.co.uk