Community Competition

This year’s competition – sharing your love of British food

Raymond Blanc launches British Food Fortnight’s 2022 competition inviting you to share your love of British food

This year we have seen communities pull together to ensure everyone has access to food and, in doing so, we have rediscovered the joys of buying and supporting local producers and suppliers.

To celebrate this year’s British Food Fortnight, 17^th September – 2^nd October, top chef Raymond Blanc is leading a competition asking communities, businesses, schools, retailers, pubs, restaurants caterers, hospitals, care homes and universities to join him in showing their love for British food.

This competition is open to everyone who has been involved in an uplifting gesture or activity that has British food at its heart. Here are a few ideas:

• Send a neighbour or friend some British fruit or vegetables lovingly produced from your own garden or bought from your local shop or farm.

• Produce a well-loved family recipe using at least one British ingredient.

• Cook a dish for someone who has been through a difficult time using British produce.

• Take part in a British Food Fortnight celebration event in your community, or help to organise one.

• Make heart shaped biscuits or cakes using British ingredients.

• Work with your local pub or restaurant to encourage them to take part in British Food Fortnight promoting regional specials and local drinks matched to meals.

• Send us pictures of a hard-working local farmer harvesting crops and tell us his story.

• Nominate your local farm shop or butcher for their selection of British food sold and their window displays.

• Children – get them involved in an activity that includes British food – could be school activity, home or at a local farm.

Simply share your story and why you are taking part and we will publish them on our website. The person or group who has shown the most inspirational take on British food & drink will win the British Food Fortnight 2020 trophy and a super selection of British food and drink treats. Depending on the guidelines with respect to social distancing one of our ambassadors may well attend the winner’s 2021 event.



This year’s judges

The competition panel includes Love British Food champions led by Raymond Blanc, OBE, and involves Liz Earle, MBE, Candice Brown, Mark Hedges, Editor of Country Life, Caroline Drummond, LEAF UK and Alexia Robinson, Founder of Love British Food and British Food Fortnight.

Raymond Blanc has supported the competition since its launch in 2012 and is passionate about his involvement:

“It is incredibly important people understand and appreciate how and where their food comes from. The theme for this year’s British Food Fortnight competition ‘Sharing our love of British Food’ is perfect as this year we have rediscovered how important it is to buy and support our local producers. I would like to see many entries coming in from people sharing their love, either with food being cooked and shared with their neighbours, or children sharing their love of British food in their schools. There are so many ways you can take part.”

Entering is easy, all you have to do is ‘share your love during British Food Fortnight’ take plenty of photos and post them on your social media sites if you can. Email info@lovebritishfood.co.uk with examples of images and a clear description of what you have done, no more than 500 words. See full T&C’s below.

Every year we run a competition to find the most imaginative event taking place during British Food Fortnight. Imaginative, innovative and inclusive are the ingredients we are looking for.

Everyone is invited to enter: individuals, community volunteers, schools, chefs, retailers, care homes, hospitals; whole villages, towns and cities. Activities run by small and large organisations; ones that bring a celebration of British food to life in the community, are inclusive, educational and have a lasting legacy.

The competition is judged by a panel led by our leading Ambassador Raymond Blanc, alongside our Love British Food wellbeing Ambassador Liz Earle and former Bake Off winner Candice Brown. In some years they have been joined by Secretaries of State for Defra: Owen Paterson, Liz Truss and Andrea Leadsom have all judged the competition.

2019 Somerset villages Great Harvest Trail:

2018 the county of Hampshire: local food promoters, Hampshire Fare, worked with Hampshire Country Council Catering Services to organise British Food Fortnight menus and wonderful educational activities in 400 schools across the county. It was a tremendous endeavour and one that has inspired other local authority catering services. It is a beacon of how to put local food on school menus and make it exciting and educational for pupils. It was achieved through the inspiration and endeavours of two inspirational women whose vision extended across a whole county. 

2017 Ginger & Spice Festival: a 4-day event celebrating the history and heritage of the town of Market Drayton and its links with the Gingerbread Man.  The aim was to bring the local community together to discover, explore, re-connect and celebrate their unique culinary heritage, as well as promote and celebrate their local produce. It was such a success, the festival has taken place every year since.

2016 City of Bath & NE Somerset Local Food Partnership: an inspired programme of celebrations, activities and events during the Fortnight with more than 30 local businesses getting involved. Food festivals, cooking courses and a British Breakfast for all participating schools using local produce were just some of the activities that took place throughout the city during British Food Fortnight.

2015 City of Peterborough: celebrated food and the unique role that agriculture has played in the development of the city. A series of events filled the city centre with the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, songs and dances of the countryside finishing with an open-air British food lunch in the Cathedral square attended by hundreds of people sitting at long tables recreating a modern-day harvest feast. Most notably, Peterborough’s city centre food and craft market was reinstated after 50 years providing a wonderful legacy from the competition.

2014 Emsworth market town, Hampshire: they created a food festival, not for outside visitors, but for the town itself. What they achieved was astonishing; two weeks of events with local producer markets, foraging walks, themed lunches, films about the town’s oyster heritage and tastings. Students from nearby colleges took over the Brookfield Hotel to prepare a three course Great British Menu. A food mountain was built in the centre of town and all the food was donated to the Beacon Food Bank. Winning the British Food Fortnight competition has inspired the town to expand the celebrations every year since and the whole town and surrounding area now celebrate British Food Fortnight every year. The vision of one man, Alistair Gibson, Emsworth Food Festival is now the benchmark against which we judge all other food festivals. What they achieved is truly astonishing. There is a fun film of it here: https://emsworthonline.co.uk/Emsworth%20British%20Food%20Fortnight.html

2013 The village of Haslington, Cheshire: our first winner and proof that small communities can also be winners. The whole community were hands-on in organising a weekend of harvest celebrations that truly gave a modern-day interpretation of the tradition of harvest festival. Farm animals were bought into the centre of the village, there was a farmer’s market on the village green, there was a whole village debate about food and farming led by local farmers and the local MP and a grand finale harvest celebration with local producers and the WI.

Terms and Conditions

1.    The competition is open to residents of the UK, except for anyone associated with judging the competition.

2.    All information detailing how to enter this competition forms part of these terms and conditions. It is a condition of entry that all rules are accepted as final and that the competitor agrees to abide by these rules. Submission of an entry will be taken to mean acceptance of these terms and conditions.

3.    To enter this competition, participants must send their entry to info@lovebritishfood.co.uk. Entrants must:

a.    Describe their main activity and use pictures where possible. Entries should include up to 3 images and no more than 500 words.

4.    All entries must be received by midday on Friday 23rd October 2020.

5.    All entries submitted must be original and must not have been published elsewhere or have won a prize in any other competition. It is the responsibility of each entrant to ensure that their entry does not infringe the copyright of any third party or any laws.

6.    All entries must be submitted by a responsible adult over the age of 18.

7.    The competition is open to all groups, formal or informal.

8.    Copyright in all entries submitted for this competition remains with the respective entrants. However, each entrant grants a worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual licence to Love British Food to feature any or all of the submitted entries in any of their publications, their websites and/or in any promotional material connected to this competition. Entrants will not receive remittance for such publication, though their work will be credited.

9.    An entry to the competition serves as written confirmation from the responsible adult that consent has been gained from all individuals (or their parent/guardian in the event that they are under the age of 18) for the use of the photographic images submitted, to include the use of individual’s name, likeness and biographic and other information for purposes of publicity and promotion.

10. Illegible, incomplete, defaced or corrupt entries will not be accepted. No responsibility can be accepted for lost entries and proof of transmission or posting will not be accepted as proof of receipt. Entries must not be sent through agencies or third parties.

11. The judges will select one overall winning initiative and one runner-up which, in the sole opinion of the judges, best demonstrate this criteria: Competition entries will be judged on the extent to which they:

·      Celebrate British food within their community: help people discover British products they have not been aware of before and promote local producers.

·      Strengthen the local community through the fun of celebrating food and bring colour to the lives of people from different sectors of society.

·      Used British food and drink to inspired and helped others during this difficult year.

·      Use new and innovative ways of celebrating British Food. New initiatives or established initiatives with new features will be particularly recognised.

12. The judging panel comprises Raymond Blanc, Liz Earle and Alexia Robinson, The decision of the judges is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

13. The organisers of the winning entry will receive Love British Food 2020 trophy plus a selection of British food and drink goodies.

14. In the event of the Promoter being unable to contact the winning organisers or of their being unable to accept their prize, the Promoter reserves the right to award the prize to another entrant who, in the opinion of the judges and in accordance with these terms and conditions, is the next best entry.

15. The winning organisers will be required to take part in publicity.

16. The prize as described is available on the date of publication. The prize is non-transferable and there are no cash alternatives.

17. Should an act of God occur that renders the competition itself or the awarding of the prizes impossible, the Promoter may at its absolute discretion vary or amend the promotion and the entrant agrees that no liability shall attach to the Promoter as a result thereof.