On behalf of the Trustees, we are delighted to invite entries for the 2026 Awards and look forward to receiving this year's submissions.

For 2026, we are very pleased to welcome Mina Holland as our Food Assessor. Mina Holland is a writer and editor - mostly about food and drink, subjects which she sees as a way to talk about almost anything. She spent 12 years as an editor at the Guardian, working across all its food sections, including the Saturday paper's much-loved cookery section, Feast. She has written two food books and, most recently, a motherhood memoir. She now regularly contributes features, restaurant reviews and wine columns to the Guardian, the Observer, British Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and TOAST, and is an occasional restaurant advisor.

We are also delighted that Nina Caplan will assess the Drink books for 2026. Nina is a freelance journalist and author writing about wine, food, travel and the arts. Formerly Arts Editor of Time Out and wine columnist for The New Statesman, she is now Drinks Editor of Times LUXX and a regular contributor to Times Travel, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and other publications. Her first book, The Wandering Vine: Wine, the Romans and Me, won several awards.

Entries for the 2026 Awards are now open. Full eligibility criteria, rules and the entry form can be found in the 2026 Awards section of the website.

To enter, six copies of each book should be submitted: one for the Chairman, each Trustee, the Secretary and the relevant Assessor. Books should be sent individually to each recipient. For mailing addresses and any submission queries, please contact Katie Lander at katie@andresimon.co.uk.

The closing date for entries is 20 November 2026. The longlist will be announced in mid-December 2026, followed by the shortlist in January 2027.

We wish all entrants the very best of luck and look forward to discovering the outstanding food and drink books of 2026.

NICK LANDER
CHAIRMAN