Time to nominate your 2024 heroes for a Jamie Oliver Good School Food Award!

The Jamie Oliver Good School Food Awards celebrate the amazing catering teams, beautiful canteens, holiday programmes, campaigners and unsung heroes who, day in and day out, go the extra mile to make sure Britain’s schoolchildren are well nourished. It's free to enter, and they're  looking for your nominations now.

Starting in 1906, Britain has one of the oldest school meal systems in the world. It now has a workforce larger than the Royal Navy and Air Force combined, serving about 5 million meals every day; that equates to around 41 meals per second.

So if you know of a school food hero who’s changing things up, creating incredible food for the canteen, teaching kids about food education, inspiring students about sustainability, or fueling them up properly to get active in the playground, nominate them NOW!

Jamie Oliver says:

“We launched the awards last year and the response was overwhelming. We had thousands of entries across the country, but more importantly than that, the positive effect winning had on last year’s winners is what really made the difference.

“We wanted to show love and appreciation to the food educators, teachers and catering teams that work so hard 190 days a year to feed our kids and teach them about the joy of food. I truly believe schools are our secret weapon. From the food they serve to the cooking skills they teach kids, they lay the foundation for children’s health and wellbeing, as well as their academic success and future productivity.”

Barbara Crowther, Children's Food Campaign Manager, is part of the expert panel doing the shortlisting, before celebrity judges including Prue Leith, Mary Berry, Joe Wicks, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Big H choose the final winners. Barbara says:

"We're looking for the schools and people who are exciting children about food, who are putting really great dishes on their menus, who are firing up children's curiosity and involvement in how food grows and where it comes from. We want to find the people being creative in getting pupils developing their tastebuds and their cooking skills. So many unsung champions in our communities - these awards can put them in the spotlight, and say thank you for all they do."  

The eight categories for your nominations are: 

• The One Show’s Rising Star Award
• Food Educator of the Year
• Catering Team Champions
• Governor or School Leader Food Hero
• Food for Fuel Award with Joe Wicks
• Sustainability Star
• Kindness and Community Award
• Youth Activist of the Year

If any of these sound like someone you know or your local school, nominate them NOW! 

Entries close on 24 March 2024.