Kokova Magazine

North West eateries are being urged to enter the Food Porn Awards, as an expert judging line-up is announced. Following its launch last month, eateries from across the North West have just over one month left to enter this year's Food Porn Awards.

Celebrating the region's best-looking food, the awards close for entries on the 13th November, with restaurants, bars, pubs and eateries encouraged to submit images of their most tantalising dishes to be in with a chance of winning the coveted 2017 award.

Online submissions have already started pouring in from across the region since entries opened and an expert judging panel has been appointed, which will have the challenging task of selecting 12 finalists, as well as the final winner.

The confirmed line-up includes: -

• Maria Bracken, editor of leading industry publication, Eat Out
• Jo Cooksey, editor of North West food and drink website, Taste Today
• Renate Ruge - acclaimed journalist
• Professor Stewart Morell from Manchester Metropolitan University
• Robert Gong, Food Development Chef at All About Food
• Oliver Zebedee-Howard, Owner and Managing Director of specialist food creative agency, Shoot the Moon

With decades of experience in the sector between them, the panel will come together to select an initial shortlist of 12 entries from restaurants, bars, pubs and eateries across the North West, which have been submitting images of their most mouth-watering dishes over the past month with a hope of scooping the acclaimed award. The finalists will then move through to the live cook-off round, working with the curators of the Food Porn Awards, STM Photography, to capture images of their dishes before the entries are revealed and the judges make their final decisions.

The inaugural Food Porn Awards took place last year and following on from its success, have returned in its search to find the region’s finest culinary delights. This year, the awards are also welcoming entries from Yorkshire and Cumbria, with the final winner announced at the Northern Restaurant and Bar Show in March 2017.

"We are delighted to welcome back three of the judges from last year and very much looking forward to Maria, Jo and Renate joining the team. The quality of entries we received last year was outstanding and judging by the entries we've already received, this year is on course to be even better. I've no doubt that the panel of experts we have on board will be ideally placed to select a worthy winner.

Phil Marshall, STM managing director and curator of the Food Porn Awards

Sponsors and partners for this year's awards include catering equipment supplier, Stephensons; specialist food photographers, STM Photography; social media agency, STM Social; PR agency, Refresh PR; and video production company, WhiteNoise Media. For more information on the awards and how to enter, including full terms and conditions, please visit www.foodpornawards.co.uk