Welcome to the Andre Simon Memorial Fund Awards - the annual awards for food and drink books.

Welcome to the André Simon Book Awards - the prestigious annual awards for food and drink books.

On behalf of the Trustees of the Awards I would like to welcome you and we are looking forward to receiving your entries for the 2025 Awards.

This year we are delighted to welcome Rowley Leigh as the assessor for the food books. Rowley was a chef for forty years, working for the Roux brothers and then one of the founding partners of the ground-breaking Kensington Place and subsequently at Le Café Anglais in Bayswater. He has since acted as a consultant for several restaurant groups, including several years in Hong Kong. In a parallel career, Rowley has been the food correspondent of The Guardian, The Sunday Telegraph and The Financial Times. He has written two cookery books, No Place Like Home and A Long and Messy Business. He is 'semi-retired' and lives in a small village on the Devon and Somerset borders.

Alice Lascelles will be in charge of assessing the drink books for 2025. Alice is a contributing editor on the Financial Times and writes the drinks column for the FT's HTSI magazine. Her drinks writing has also appeared in The Times, The Economist, Wired, Monocle, Vice and many specialist and trade titles including the authoritative Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails, and she can often be found talking about wine, spirits and bar culture on BBC Radio 4 on the TV. She is the author of three books including the best-selling The Martini: The Ultimate Guide to a Cocktail Icon which was named 2024 BBC Food Programme Drinks Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the 2024 André Simon Awards. She has also been made a Keeper of the Quaich and a Chevalier of the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne in recognition of her work. She likes her Martini 5:1 with an olive and a twist.

Books can now be submitted and the criteria, rules and the application form can be found under 2025 awards. A copy of each book entered should be sent to the Chairman, trustees, the secretary and the relevant assessor - six copies in all. If you are entering books do contact Katie Lander on Katie@andresimon.co.uk for the address details, each one needs to be sent individually to the trustees and assessors. The closing date is 21 November 2025 and the longlist will be announced in early December.

NICK LANDER
CHAIRMAN

"This year saw the most impressive number of books in both the food and drink categories selected from more than 160 entries. The winning books were all personal passion projects. Thank you to everyone who entered and a special congratulations to our winning and shortlisted authors."

Nicholas Lander, Chair André Simon Food & Drink Book Awards

"Thank you very much André Simon. This book would be unreadable without the team that put it together. From the designers to the food stylist. I'm very grateful for all their help."

Author, SIFT, Nicola Lamb

"We all know that it's never been more difficult to publish books and the need for the André Simon food and drink book awards has never been greater. Thank you, André Simon, for recognising Australian Ark."

Publisher, Australian Ark, Angus Hughson