The Craft Guild Awards celebration is now in its 18th year and the judging doesn’t get any easier. Thirteen of the categories are judged by an elite panel of experts, who meticulously sift through every scrap of the nomination evidence they are given to assess and reach a conclusive decision to reward 40 chefs a place at the prestigious awards ceremony.

Following last year’s tick list for nominees that Stockpot put forward to help both them and the judges, there has been an improvement in the quality of entry. But while some chefs have dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s to paint a picture of what they do, there are still some who have missed out on vital information that might have swung the vote and given them an award.

Simple additions such as supportive statements from work colleagues and even testimonials from clients make a difference. Lack of information doesn’t however faze all the judges. Paul Gayler from the Lanesborough Hotel for example didn’t hesitate when dissatisfied with the blanks and did his own sleuthing online and even contacting employers for more facts.

But some of the categories were very hard to judge this year. The pastry chef category for example received more nominees this year than ever before – all high calibre candidates, so choosing the strongest one took an enormous amount of time.

Their flair and passion about their work showed with many standing out as ones to watch for exciting new creations.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel’s head pastry chef Graham Hornigold, who won the award in 2007, was one of the expert judges. Not all pastry chefs he said took what they learnt and did something different with it, but these nominees were all exceptionally good at this task.

For the first time restaurant critic Richard Harden helped to shortlist candidates for the New Restaurant of the Year. Two categories were also independent of the main judging panel.

A special team of Craft Guild members judges the Special Award and the 2011 winner, Philip Howard, well deserves joining the roll of honour. In addition, an exciting twist to this year’s awards was the introduction of the People’s Choice Award to recognise the industry’s unsung heroes.

Seven deserving candidates were nominated and supporters were allowed one online vote for their favourite. These were carefully vetted to ensure there were no duplicated votes and, what can only be likened to an election ‘swingometer’ the results swung back and forth with more than 1,100 votes cast by the deadline on May 13. Only then was the winner singled out as one of the stalwarts of the Craft Guild – John Retallick.

This award will definitely be one to watch in the future.

The judges
Andrew Green
Christopher Basten
Adam Smith
Bill Vickers
David Mulcahy
Giles Thompson
Graham Hornigold
Mark Hill
Martyn Nail
Mike Stapleton
Neil Rippington
Paul Gayler
Peter Griffiths
Steve Munkley
Vivek Singh

The winners
Apprentice Chef Award
Rebecca Marshman Hilton Park Lane Hotel
Banqueting Chef Award
David Summerell Royal College of Physicians
Competition Chef Award
Mathew Shropshall University College Birmingham
Contract Catering Chef Award
Robert Brown Eurest Services, Compass Group
Cost Sector Chef Award
Alan Baker-Green Compass Group UK & Ireland
Development Chef Award
Peter Joyner Elior UK
Education Chef Award
Ian Jaundoo Liverpool Community College
Ethnic Chef Award
Karunesh Khanna Amaya
New Restaurant of the Year Award
Pea Porridge Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Pastry Chef Award
Tal Hausen The Lanesborough Hotel
People’s Choice Award
John Retallick
Pub Restaurant Chef Award
Tim Bilton The Butchers Arms, Hepworth
Restaurant Chef Award
Lisa Allen Northcote
Young Chef Award
Tom Parker Northcote
Special Award
Philip Howard The Square