Foot Anstey Sponsor Innovation At Devon Life Food & Drink Awards Ceremony
Devon’s top quality local produce was honoured again this year at a glittering awards ceremony at the Devon County Show on Thursday, 18th May 2006. Local celebrity Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, otherwise known as The Black Farmer, gave a short speech at the Oscar-style ceremony which included a reception and dinner for 200 VIP guests, based entirely on Devon’s finest food and drink.
Nominations for the Devon Life Food and Drink Awards are based on thousands of votes received from readers of Devon Life and the general public. Those with the most nominations went through to the finals where food and drink experts, approved by Taste of the West, judged each of the three finalists from each category. The winners remained a closely guarded secret until the awards ceremony.
The Devon Life Food and Drink Awards recognise excellence at every level. From restaurants to pubs and country pubs; from farmers, growers and producers to fishermen and butchers; and from specialist food shops to farm shops and farmers’ markets. The awards also look to promote innovation and the local people who have seen a need in the market and gone out and filled it with style. Sponsored by Foot Anstey, finalists in the category of Best Entrepreneur / Innovative Product included The Black Farmer, Georgie Porgies’s Puddings and South Devon Chilli Farm.
Announcing The Black Farmer as the winner in this category, the judge said, “ The Black Farmer has developed a range of very high quality products and through excellent communication skills, collaboration skills and marketing skills, he has managed to achieve national distribution of his product with the major retailers – an astonishing achievement”.
Keith Biggs, Partner at Foot Anstey said “ We congratulate all of the winners in each of the categories, and particularly the three finalists for the Foot Anstey Best Entrepreneur / Innovative Product Award. They all deserved to win, but we were delighted to be able to present the 2006 award to The Black Farmer. These awards are an important showcase for food producers in the region, and Foot Anstey are delighted to be associated with them”.
Published 25/06/2006
