4TH ANNUAL WORLD FOOD AWARDS TO RETURN IN NOVEMBER 2012 ...ENTRIES NOW OPEN...

[London 11, June 2012] The World Foods Association today announced that the 4th annual World Food Awards are now accepting entries for the 2012 ceremony – one of the most prestigious events on the ethnic food calendar.

The World Food Awards, which attract the cream of the industry and showcase the very best the sector has to offer, will take place on Friday 2nd November at London’s prestigious Lancaster London Hotel.

The World Foods Association, organisers of the awards also highlighted a shake-up in the categories this year, with a total of ten awards being presented on the evening:

• Best New Product of the Year – NEW CATEGORY

• Food or Drink Product of the Year – NEW CATEGORY

• Best Packaging of the Year

• Wholesaler of the Year/Catering Supplier of the Year – NEW CATEGORY

• Marketing Campaign of the Year

• National Retailer of the Year

• Exporter of the Year – NEW CATEGORY

• Restaurant of the Year

• Entrepreneur of the Year Award

• Lifetime Achievement Award

The World Food Awards are open exclusively to companies specialising, promoting or stocking products from the following communities: Asian, Oriental, African, Afro-Caribbean, European, East-European, Middle Eastern, South American and Mediterranean. The closing date for this year’s entries is Tuesday 31st July, 2012.

Last year’s Awards saw the likes of supermarket giant Tesco, leading eatery Hakkasan and exotic drinks brand Rubicon, amongst a host of other well known and respected brands from the word foods sector, walking away with the highly coveted awards.

Harry Dulai one of the World Foods Association’s founding supporters, said: “This event has proved an amazing success with our industry, quickly attracting the who’s who of the world food sector – a clear sign to me that an event to honour the achievements of this thriving sector was long overdue. By refining our existing categories and introducing new categories we hope that the World Food Awards will this year, receive even more entries.”

Hosted by comedy legend Lenny Henry, last year’s Awards featured a glittering array of celebrity guests including chefs Ken Hom, Rob Billington, Anjum Anand and Ravinder Bhogal, as well as actor Nitin Ganatra, director Gurinder Chadha, singer Simon Webbe and sporting legends, Denise Lewis and Chris Eubank.

The World Foods Association has also reconfirmed that the Star Network will again be supporting the event as the official media partner to host this year’s much anticipated event.

Yeshpal Sharma, Vice President for Star UK & Europe said: “We are delighted to be hosting these fantastic Awards again this year. There are hundreds, if not thousands of companies that deserve to be recognised for the impact they have made on the cultural landscape of Britain and it is a pleasure to see so many of them coming forward to participate in the World Food Awards.”

Through this exciting partnership with the Star Network, the World Food Awards 2012 will be broadcast globally to a vast audience. The event will again feature a glittering line-up, including performances from leading artists and a host of celebrities, food personalities and acclaimed chefs to present the awards.

This year’s high-profile judging panel consists of some of the UK’s most respected industry experts, including Adam Leyland, Editor of The Grocer, Simon Numphud, Head of AA inspectors and Mintel’s Director of Innovation & Insight David Jago.

KPMG’s Sheel Gill will again audit the judge’s results to ensure complete confidence in the judging process.

For further details and to download the entry forms please visit: www.worldfoodawards.com

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