The annual awards aim to celebrate culinary excellence and recognise exceptional talent across the whole of the UK’s chef’s industry from those just starting their careers to Michelin star chefs. There are 14 award categories available for nomination.

The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2026 will take place on Wednesday 10th June at the Park Plaza London Westminster Bridge. Enter the 2026 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards here.

Nominations for the Banqueting & Event Chef Award are sought from chefs who are responsible for a banqueting operation. This can be in a permanent location or event catering environment where the team move around or cook in specialised venues. Candidates should demonstrate the highest standards of delivery, be highly organised and an excellent team leader with a commitment to producing innovative food to the highest standards.

For the Competition Chef Award, nominations are invited from chefs who are recognised as having a proven track record within the competition arena. Nominations should contain a description of competitions entered and awards achieved.

The Development Chef Award recognises the ever-growing importance of this sector of the chef’s profession. Nominations are required from chefs who are currently involved in any stage of the creation and development of food products for the retail and foodservice industries or for their creativity within the menu development kitchen of groups serving the out of home market.

Nominations for the Pastry Chef Award are invited from chefs who have specialised in the production of pastry work, whether self-taught or having worked in other pastry kitchens during their career. They should now be demonstrating their own style, flair and innovation in the types of dishes they produce, as well as actively developing and training future pastry chefs working alongside them.

In addition to these four highlighted categories there are ten more open for nominations, including:

• Apprentice Chef Award
• Chef & Service Lecturer Award
• Contract Catering Chef Award
• Culinary Hero Award
• Pub Restaurant Chef Award
• Public Sector Chef Award
• Restaurant Chef Award
• Street Food Chef Award
• Sustainability Excellence Award
• Young Chef Award

Mark Reynolds, chair of the Craft Guild of Chefs, commented: “The Craft Guild of Chefs annual awards for 2026 are now open. It’s a huge opportunity to give someone some recognition and then they could win at one of the most prestigious awards events in our industry. The judging is always difficult but let’s make this year tougher for the judges with some well deserving winners, get voting.”  

The 2026 Craft Guild of Chefs Awards are sponsored by Bonemasters, Clean Event Services, Essential Cuisine, Foodbuy, HRC 2026, Lakeland Dairies, Lumia, Pizza Si, Rational, Sodexo, Tugo and Williams.