And the Winners of the North West Food Oscars are…

Glitz, glamour and sensational food were the order of the night (Thursday 13th March 2008) for the 2008 NW Fine Food Awards Gala Dinner when the region’s finest food producers gathered to hear which of them had been given the honour of being crowned ‘Best in the North West’.

Almost 500 products were entered into the NW Fine Food competition which was judged by a team of over forty food experts at Blackburn Rovers Football Club last month. Lucky judges had to select gastronomic winners for each category by tasting everything from fruit and vegetables, local beers and liqueurs, jams and chutneys, to steaks and black puddings.


Judges included well known chefs, supermarket buyers, food journalists and industry experts - in total 48 judges took the taste challenge and all were highly impressed at the quality and standard of entries.

Nigel Howarth of Northcote Manor commented ‘It is always a great honour to be asked to judge at the NW Fine Food Awards, this year the standard of entries was the highest it’s ever been’.

50 sub category winners were informed of their success immediately after the judging but had to wait in anticipation to find out who had won the overall ‘Best Of’ category prizes; the County producer of the year winners; or the ultimate ‘NW Fine Food Producer Of The Year 2008’ prize until they were announced last night.

Food producers and VIPS enjoyed entertainment and a five course menu specially selected to highlight the winning producers at the Mercure Dunkenhalgh Hotel & Spa in Clayton-le-Moors.



BBC Radio Merseyside funnyman Willie Miller presented the awards on the night with help from a variety of North West food industry movers and shakers, the top award of NW Fine Food Producer of the Year 2008 going to Lancashire Cheesemakers Dew-Lay for their Garstang Blue; NW Fine Food Best New Product 2008 went to Lizzie’s Home Made for the second year running, this time for her Damson Fruit Gems and NW Fine Food Young Chef of the Year 2008 was picked up by Lancashire’s Simon Salt from Nigel Smith’s Restaurants.

On winning the award Nick Kenyon, operations manager, Dewlay Products Ltd commented -“Winning the Producer of the Year Award was so unexpected. It never occurred to me that we would win it again after first winning it in 2005, so when our name was called out I was just so shocked,”



-“None of this would have been possible though without the great leadership of our managing director and mine and Richard’s dad; Neil Kenyon. But everyone at Dewlay has worked so hard for this, so for our staff it is well deserved and a testament to our hard work.”



-“The NW Fine Food Awards is such a prestigious event so to be nominated for an award is an honour. But to then win the Best Blue Cheese category, Best Dairy Producer and the Producer of the Year Award is such a phenomenal achievement and a great honour.”

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Posted: Monday 17th March 2008
ID: 4079 - 75