The Food Drink Devon Awards Unveils this Year's Outstanding Finalists

With the highly anticipated annual Food Drink Devon Awards taking place in October, Food Drink Devon is delighted to announce this year's finalists in the prestigious awards.

Following the closure of entries in April, a distinguished panel of judges and industry experts embarked on assessing and judging an unprecedented number of entries. Including many of the county's most respected and influential artisan food and drink producers, more than 300 products were sampled, 95 hospitality establishments visited, 30 retail outlets scrutinised and eight Training School / Learning Experiences were participated in, to select Devon's finest.

The winners will be announced during the organisation's glittering black tie award ceremony on Monday 2nd October 2023 at Sandy Park conference centre in Exeter, home of Premiership rugby team Exeter Chiefs.

Returning for the 12th year, the gold standard industry accolades celebrate the best the region has to offer, with categories open to both members and non-members of Food Drink Devon including the Producer Awards, Retail Awards,'Hospitality Awards and Sustainability Pioneer Award.

Food Drink Devon's Sustainability Pioneer Award shines a light on businesses going that extra mile in their endeavours to be environmentally friendly. This year's finalists for the Sustainability Pioneer Award include a broad spectrum of producers, hospitality establishments, retailers and training schools including Hylsten Bakery (Buckfastleigh); The Husbandry School (Bickington); THE PIG-at Combe (Honiton), Springwater Farm (Broadclyst); Eversfield Organic (Bratton Clovelly) and The Black River Inn (Black Torrington) as well as others.

Sustainability board director at Food Drink Devon and Met Office Climate Service Lead in Food, Farming & Natural Environment, Dr Pete Falloon, comments on the entries; "The judging panel were thrilled with the number of high quality entries for the Sustainability Pioneer Award, there were some truly inspirational entries. It has been particularly encouraging to see how Devon businesses are acting as a force for good and embracing all three dimensions of sustainability - planet, people and profit - to ensure a greener world, support thriving communities and workforces and drive their businesses forward. We can't wait to unveil the winners and tell you a bit more about their stories at the awards' ceremony!"

Shortlisted businesses in the Product Awards'cover a huge variety of delights including sweet and savoury, meat, preserves, jams and chutneys, ales, ciders, wines and confectionery, as well as many others. Finalists are also automatically in the running for Food Product, Drink Product and the New Product of the Year. Some of this year's finalists include Atlantic Spirit (Bideford); Beckland Charcuterie (Hartland); Clive's Purely Plants (Dartmouth); Ebb Tides Seaweeds (Sidmouth); Hattiers Rum (Mothecombe); Jamu Wild Water (Exeter); Lovaton Farm (Okehampton); Taw Valley Microgreens (Umberleigh); Cakewhole (Plymouth); Sandridge Barton Wines (Stoke Gabriel) and Truly Treats (Kingsteignton).

Commenting on the Producer Award finalists, Food Drink Devon board director, Jack Pickering, says: "The number, quality and range of products we received for judging this year was amazing. It is a real testament to the hard work producers from across the county have invested to deliver delicious food and drink products from our fertile lands. This year will see us award a record number of Gold awards and more excitingly a record number of Platinum awards, but everyone will need to wait until the awards' ceremony to find out who they are!"

For a full list of shortlisted producers please see below or visit www.fooddrinkdevon.co.uk/awards. For more information on Food Drink Devon please visit www.fooddrinkdevon.co.uk