Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards 2025 Winners Announced

The Fortnum & Mason Food & Drink Awards are one of the most eagerly awaited events in the food writing & broadcasting calendar.  The Fortnum & Mason Awards winners for 2025 were announced on 1st May 2025 and recognised excellence in food and drink writing, broadcasting and photography. For thirteen years, the awards have championed those who help others to enjoy, explore, experiment, and discover more about food and drink, through their writing, photography, and commentary.  Once again women proved how well they shine in food and drink writing and broadcasting.

Mary Berry was given a Special Award for her amazing achievements and it was joy to see this in her 90th year!

The awards shortlist included ground breaking investigative journalism, mouth-watering cookery writing and captivating food and drink storytelling across all mediums. The exciting list of winners covered subjects such as working in the  challenging environment of male dominated kitchens, Caribbean cooking, Japanese sake and food heritage.

The winners were selected by an expert panel of independent judges, across 13 categories, from work published or broadcast during 2024. The elements considered include fresh and original content, authenticity, visual flair, engaging style, and unique perspectives.

Food Books

Congratulations to Pam Brunton, (pictured above) who won best Food Book for  Between Two Waters: Heritage, landscape and the modern cook also shortlisted were The English Table: Our Food through the Ages by Jill Norman and The Gourmand’s Lemon: A Collection of Stories and Recipes edited by David Lane & Marina Tweed.

We were delighted that Sally Abé‘s memoir A Woman’s Place is in the Kitchen won the  debut food book category. Women in the Food Industry hosted an event on 11th June 2024 centred around the launch of Sally Abé’s memoir.  You can read a recap of the event here.

Also shortlisted in debut books is Leftovers: A History of Food Waste and Preservation by Eleanor Barnett.

Cookery  books

In the debut cookery book category we were very pleased to see Marie Mitchell, win for her book KIN: Caribbean Recipes for the Modern Kitchen . It was also a pleasure to meet Irina Janakievska  who was shortlisted for her book The Balkan Kitchen: Recipes and Stories from the Heart of the Balkans

Drink Books

The winner of debut drink book was Yoshiko Ueno-Müller for her book Sake: The Art and Craft of Japan’s National Drink. A representative picked up the award from hosts Angela Harnett and Andi Oliver on her behalf.

The drink book shortlist also included: The Martini by Alice Lascelles and The Connaught Bar: Cocktail Recipes and Iconic Creations by Agostino Perrone with Giorgio Bargiani and Maura Milia.

Food Writing Categories

Congratulations to Toyo Odetunde who received the Best Food Writer award for her work featured in Food by National Geographic Traveller & The i Paper.

Winner of the Best Cookery Writer shortlisted was Ravinder Bhogal for her work featured in delicious. Magazine. Also shortlisted was  Songsoo Kim for her work featured in Vittles Magazine.

Niki Blasina won the best Restaurant Writing Category for her work featured in the Financial Times.

Photography & Broadcasting Categories

Finally in the Best Audio category we were really delighted to see Presenter & Producer: Sam Bilton win the category for Comfortably Hungry: The Culinary Creativity of the Enslaved 

We loved catching up with Presenter: Jaega Wise & Producer: Nina Pullman who were shortlisted for their wor on  The Food Programme: The Herb and Spice Scam? 

We also chatted to presenter Leyla Kazim who has worked on the Food Programme with them

Also shortlisted was  BBC World Service’s The Food Chain: Hungry at Sea, Presenter: Ruth Alexander, Producers: Izzy Greenfield & Hannah Bewley, Editor: Sarah Wadeson.

The awards also had a number of public votes  Personality of the Year, went to Matt Tebbutt for Saturday Kitchen and Helen McGinn picked up the award on his behalf.

Previous winners of the two public votes (Poppy O’Toole and Becky Excell) handed out awards for Content Creator of the Year and Rising Star Content Creator of the Year.

Our co-founder Mex Ibrahim caught up with a number of food writers and broadcasters on the awards night and you can see more photos and results from the night on our Instagram stories.

Look out for the results and photos from the night on our Instagram stories.

You can see the full list of winners Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards for 2025 here.