The final nominations are in, as the shortlisting has been taking place throughout September, keeping our judges working overtime for the remaining four categories: Local Food Hero; Farming Environment; Sustainability and Event Venue.  We are delighted to welcome our new category sponsor for Event Venue – Hilton Garden Inn at Silverstone!

The Farming Environment category (sponsored by the Weetabix Growers Group) is designed to recognise those protocol growers who have supplied Weetabix within the last two years and who have taken demonstrable action to reduce the environmental impact of growing wheat through carbon footprint reduction, promoting wildlife or regenerative agriculture.

Peter Chandley Head of Quality and Food Safety at Weetabix commented ““The Farming Environment award showcases the important work of our Growers Group of farmers, and as this year’s harvest comes to an end, it’s wonderful to celebrate local farmers doing so much for farming in a sustainable way.”

Finalists for the Farming Environment Award are:
Ben Atkinson, J.E Atkinson & Son
Jim Beaty, Wold Farm
Ed Dale, Stetchworth Estate Farms
Will Green, White House Farm
Matt Knight ,J.A Knight & Sons
Johnny Wake, Courteenhall Estate

For the Local Food Hero award, we are looking for people and businesses in the food and drink sector who go further in producing, supplying, promoting or selling local goods or food services, thereby contributing to the reduction of food miles and carbon emissions.

Matt Smith, Executive Director of Skills and Business Development at Moulton College was really impressed with the entrants, saying “I was intrigued by the diversity of candidates for the Local Food Hero category. What these businesses are achieving is incredible and vital work for local communities within Northamptonshire.”

Finalists for Local Food Hero are:
Milly Fyfe
The Shack Food Project
Skittles Community Shop
The Roaming Artisan

Our headline sponsor, Weetabix, has developed a ‘Change For Better’ framework, based on the four key areas of: sustainable ingredients, reducing packaging waste, efficient operations and health and wellbeing. Inspired by their campaign, the Sustainability Category is therefore designed to recognise and celebrate an individual, business, or organisation for a product, drink, process or project. These need to have made a positive impact in sustainability across one or more of the four areas, and its capacity to act as inspiration to others in the sector.

Sustainability category sponsor Weetabix’s Supply Chain and Technical Director John Petre commented on this year’s finalists “A wonderfully diverse range of entrants again this year leading the way for Sustainability. I’m really pleased to see the progression these businesses have had and with so much future potential. What an exciting time ahead we can expect for Northamptonshire with a high calibre of businesses taking such initiative in terms of their climate impact – a huge Weetabix ‘well done’ to all of you!”

Finalists for Weetabix Sustainability Award are:
Blue Skies
Green Machine Refill
Silverstone Circuit
SNVB
Sol Laug Havens
The Farm Shed

The final category to be announced is the Event Venue of the Year category sponsored by Hilton Garden Inn. These independent Event Venues specialize in catering for over 100 people for formal occasions.

Delighted to be selected as a finalist for the inaugural Event Venue of the Year category is Glenn Newman from The Granary at Fawsley, “We are thrilled to be recognised and nominated for this prestigious award. Our team work hard day in day out to deliver the very best wedding experience. We were all overwhelmed with excitement when we found out we were finalists for best venue!”

Finalists for Event Venue of the Year are:
Furtho Events
Kelmarsh Hall & Gardens
Kettering Park Hotel & Spa
Rushton Hall
Silverstone Circuits
The Granary at Fawsley

Award winners will be announced at the Royal & Derngate on 1st November at the 15th Weetabix Food & Drink Awards 2023/24.

For more information on the Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2023/24, please visit www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk.

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