The Guild of Food Writers Awards are awarded annually and are the only awards judged entirely by professional food writers, editors and broadcasters.
If you are unsure about which category you should enter or have any questions about the awards process please contact the Awards Coordinator at awards@gfw.co.uk.
The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024 winners were announced at our Awards ceremony on Wednesday, 12 June 2024, held in the Royal Institution in London. The list of winners can be viewed here and the Finalists and Sponsors can be viewed here.
Awards Categories
There are 15 main awards categories:
Newcomer
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Food Podcast or Broadcast Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Food Writing Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Recipe Writing Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Restaurant Writing Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Drinks Writing Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Investigative Food Work Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Food Magazine or Section Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Self Published Writing Award
Previously the Online Food Writing Award and Self Published Work Award. Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
First Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Drinks Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Food Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
International or Regional Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Specialist Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
Single Subject Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
General Cook Book Award
Information about this award will be available when our Awards season begins in 2025.
For judging criteria and entry requirements, please read the detailed information for each category before entering. Please also read the general entry criteria below.
Entries for The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024 are now closed. Winners can be viewed here.
Who is eligible for entry?
You do not need to be a member of The Guild of Food Writers to enter. However, the work you are entering:
- must have been published or broadcast or released, in the English language, in the UK, in the last calendar year.
- should have been published in the UK before publication in any other country.
- must, if published online, be from a site based principally in the UK.
- must be a work of non-fiction.
Any work that does not meet all these requirements will not be considered.
How are the awards judged?
For each award category, the Committee of The Guild of Food Writers appoints a lead judge. The remaining three judges are sampled from the Guild membership.
- No judges may have any of their own work entered in the category they are judging.
- The recipient of each award is (are) the writer(s) or presenter(s) of, or in the case of the Food Magazine or Section Award, the editorial team behind the winning work.
- No discussion or correspondence, outside the meetings of the judges, will be entered into.
- The judges’ decisions are final.
How will I know who has won?
The shortlisted writers or broadcasters will normally be notified by telephone or email as soon as possible after judging has finished. The shortlist will be published on the Guild’s website. The winners of each prize will be announced at The Guild of Food Writers Awards Ceremony.
Is there a prize?
The winning entry in each category will receive a trophy.
How do I enter?
If you are uncertain as to which category work should be entered, please contact the Awards Co-ordinators for advice (awards@gfw.co.uk).
- If nominating more than one piece of work into different categories each entry must be on a separate form. Please note that if you enter a book in one of the book categories it will not be eligible for any other category.
- You may nominate your own or someone else’s work. In either case, you are responsible for deciding in which category or categories it is to be entered but lead judges may at their discretion reallocate works to a different category. In this event, the nominator will be required to supply copies of the work to the new judges.
- All Awards communications and nominated work must be clearly marked with the relevant category and nominator’s details.
- Whoever completes the entry form is responsible for making sure that printed copies of the work(s) are despatched in good time for judges to receive them, regardless of who is despatching them. The Guild regrets that if entries arrive late, the work cannot be considered.
- All article-based entries are to be submitted as PDF files or as online links via the entry form
- For the book categories physical copies of the publication may be sent to the judges as well as a PDF if available.
- We will provide details of where to send physical hard copies after the closing date if relevant.
- Where entries are a collaborative effort, the Guild asks that those nominating the work, be they authors or publishers, acknowledge this on the application form.
Want to join the Guild of Food Writers?
To join the Guild of Food Writers, simply complete our online application form. If you have any questions about the process you can contact our Administrator on admin@gfw.co.uk.