The Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024 Finalists Announced : A look at the women shortlisted

The Guild of Food Writers announced the shortlists for its annual Awards for 2024, one of the longest running awards in food writing and broadcasting. The shortlists highlight emerging talents from women writers including Su Scott and Felicity Souter. Also some of the industry’s best-known food writers and broadcasters, including Xanthe Clay and Bee Wilson. Our co-founder Mecca Ibrahim is a member of The Guild of Food Writers and highlights the women finalists ahead of the awards ceremony which will take place on Wednesday 12th June 2024.

First Book Award

Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul by Su Scott and Painting the Plate: 52 Recipes Inspired by Great Works of Art from Mark Rothko, Frida Kahlo, and Many More by Felicity Souter are both up for Best First Book.

Food Book Award

Hungry Heart: A Story of Food and Love by Clare Finney is shortlisted for Best Food Book. “It’s the story of the many ways in which food touches all our relationships – from friends to family, school to colleagues, perfect strangers to lifelong partners – told through a personal lens. There’s office cake, pub crisps, Christmas feasts, comfort foods, my dad’s microwaved scrambled eggs, Frubes, Club biscuits and my mum’s cheesy pasta.”

Food Podcast

Bitter/Sweet by Miller Libertine presented by Natasha Miller and Lush Life Podcast presented by Susan L. Schwartz, produced by Evo Terra are shortlisted for best Food Podcast.

Food Writing Award

Xanthe Clay for work published in The Telegraph and Rachel Roddy for work published in The Guardian are shortlisted for best Food Writing.

General Cookbook Award

All shortlisted cookbooks in the above category are written by women. A Table Full of Love: Recipes to Comfort, Seduce, Celebrate & Everything Else in Between by Skye McAlpine; Winter Wellness: Nourishing Recipes to Keep you Healthy When it’s Cold by Rachel de Thample and The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen by Bee Wilson.

International or Regional Cookbook

Lara Lee‘s A Splash of Soy: Everyday Food from Asia, her second book is shortlisted for Best International or Regional Cookbook and gives us game-changing recipes that close the gap between classic Asian recipes and easy, quick-to-table meals.

Investigative Food Work

Avocado Anxiety: and Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes by Louise Gray and ‘How Do You Reduce A National Dish to a Powder?’: The Weird, Secretive World Of Crisp Flavours by Amelia Tait published in The Guardian are shortlisted for Best Investigative Food Work.

Newcomer Award

Cartoonist aka The Caketoonist and TikTok broadcaster Tat Effby is up for Best Newcomer with “Say it With Flour”.

Recipe Writing Award

Martha Collison for work published in Waitrose Weekend and Melek Erdal for work published in Vittles and The Guardian are both shortlisted for the Recipe Writing Award.

Restaurant Writing Award

Photo by James Richard Thompson

Grace Dent for her work in Feast, The Guardian is shortlisted in this category.

Specialist or Single Subject Cookbook Award

Honey: Recipes from a Beekeeper’s Kitchen by Amy Newsome was the only woman shortlisted in this Specialist and Single Subject Cookbook category. Amy said “Pinch me. My debut book ‘Honey’ has been shortlisted for the 2024 Guild of Food Writers Awards in the specialist subject category. Thank you very much to the Guild of Food Writers Judging Committee; it’s a huge honour to be recognised by people I admire and especially as a new writer.”

Drinks Writing Award

Molly Codyre was shortlisted for the Drinks Writing Award for her work in Foodism and said “A real honour to be shortlisted by The Guild of Food Writers once again, and to be shortlisted for a drinks writing award for the second year in a row! I think as a young woman in the food and drinks industry, but particularly one writing about drinks, it can be very easy to get bogged down in imposter syndrome.

Awards certainly aren’t a cure for that, but having your work recognised by such a prestigious industry group certainly helps you stop and take stock of how far you’ve come. So I’m feeling incredibly grateful for the opportunity to reflect today!”

You can see the full shortlist of the Guild of Writers Awards for 2024 here.  The category winners will be announced at a reception at a ceremony at the Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street London W1S 4BS on Wednesday,12 June. Our co-founder Mecca Ibrahim is a member of The Guild of Food Writers and was on this year’s judging committee.

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