A cake maker, a coffee-shop owner and a community shop are among the finalists vying to be named ‘Local Food Hero’ in this year’s Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards.

The Awards, devised by Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (NEP), are now in their third year and are again aimed at celebrating all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and to reward those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

This category, staged in partnership with the Northamptonshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), invited the public to nominate a person, business or organisation which they believed had done more in the last year to promote local food than any other. The five finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Collyweston Community Shop
Dovecote Farm Shop, Newton
Laura Hughes-Wasilewski of Cakerama, Woodford Halse
Nick Riseley of Creamers Coffee House, Raunds
Rob Walker of The Old Forge, Cranford

For Nick Riseley, the news came as something of a pleasant surprise. “It was great to just be nominated but to reach the finals is unbelievable. Hopefully this will make my staff realise how good they actually are as this would not be achievable without them! And of course the customers, who regularly come in, rain or sunshine, to spend their pennies in my business and so to them I am more than thankful. Here’s to many more years!”

Nominations from all corners of the county were received for everything from butchers to bakers, farms shops to nurseries, presenting something of a challenge to the judging panel which included the Chair of the Northamptonshire Community Foundation, David Laing and the Chief Executive of Northampton Borough Council, David Kennedy. “We had a wonderful array of nominations,” said David, “which only goes to show that Northamptonshire is overflowing with people who are passionate about local produce. We found it quite difficult to narrow our selection to just five but as a result I’ve got a long list of wonderful venues to visit over the coming months!”

Sally Hanrahan is the Northamptonshire CPRE’s Development and Education Manager and has worked alongside the competition’s co-ordinator Rachel Mallows from The Mallows Company on this category. “What we love about this particular award is that it throws up some real county gems – people and venues that are highly valued by their customers but not necessarily known widely. So this is the perfect opportunity to shout about their achievements and to let our local food heroes know that their efforts are appreciated!”

The finalists now have until 1st September to discover their fate when the winners and runners-up in all ten categories will be announced at the Awards Dinner at Holdenby House. To see details of all the finalists, including links to their websites please visit www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards