Product judging for this year’s Taste Awards will take place on Tuesday 7th, Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th September at the Pavilions of Harrogate.
As well as all the vital information for this year’s judging, further down this page you also find some photos from the last product judging in 2019 – the judges were incredibly impressed by the variety and quality of the entries, and absolutely loved tasting them all. They’re very much looking forward to this year’s judging responsibilities!
We’ve invited the cream of the Yorkshire food and drink industry crop to be part of our judging panel this year so you can expect top chefs, food buyers, category managers, food writers and more to be tasting your products and judging your entries. As ever the panel will be corralled and cajoled by our own resident food expert, BBC’s Nigel Barden, who’ll be returning for another year as Head Judge and Chief Taster!
Each entry will receive detailed feedback notes from the panel along with any thoughts on improvements needed or indeed just enthusiastic praise! This feedback will be available after our awards evening in early November.
What to send and where to send it
For all products (with the exception of spirits) 3 samples of each is required for judging. If your product requires specific cooking or preparation, please provide clear notes with your entry.
Ambient, frozen and chilled products can be dropped off or couriered ahead of time and should be sent for the attention of the Deliciouslyorkshire Team to The Regional Agricultural Centre, Great Yorkshire Show Ground, Harrogate, HG2 8NZ no later than Friday 3rd September.
All fresh products should be delivered on the relevant judging day or by prior arrangement with the Deliciouslyorkshire Team directly to the Pavilions of Harrogate reception, again marked for the attention of the Deliciouslyorkshire Team.
Please note that entries delivered on the day should arrive no later than 9.30am and any later entries may not be included in the judging.
Non-product Judging
Non product judging will take place at the same time as the product judging – the week commencing the 6th September.
This year, due to potential restrictions, we’ve taken the decision to amalgamate a number of categories (Best Breakfast, Best Afternoon Tea and Best Use of Local Produce on a Menu) into a new category Best Use of Yorkshire Produce on a Menu. This category will be judged purely on the information submitted online with your entry form.
For the Best Independent Retailer category, initial shortlisting will be based on the supporting evidence submitted as in previous years.
Entries for the Best New Business category will be shortlisted and the winner selected by our judging panel lead by category sponsor Garbutt + Elliott.
You will be invited to nominate your choice of Local Food Hero when submitting your entries. This will then be shortlisted by our panel of judges before being out to a public vote ahead of the awards.
Shortlist Announcement
This year’s shortlist announcement will be made online on our website and via our social media channels.
