Competitions
Applications are invited for Listowel Food Fair’s Best Emerging Artisan Food Competition 2025, sponsored by Kerry LEO. This competition has been a long-standing focal point of Listowel Food Fair. 2025 is a special year for us as we celebrate our Food Fair’s 30th anniversary.
Our annual Food Fair will take place this year from Thursday November 6th to Monday November 10th. Food Producers will have their emerging food products assessed by an esteemed judging panel, with the opportunity to win one of several food awards, as well as receive invaluable feedback. Historically many of our award winners have gone on to receive further national and regional food awards.
PLEASE READ ALL OF THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION OUTLINED BELOW BEFORE APPLYING
Entry Requirements:
- Artisan food requires that the food is not mass produced, but is hands-on in the making
- The “best emerging” element requires that the food product must be 2 years or less in production
There are 7 Categories for entry this year:
- Savoury Products – e.g. pates, houmous, meats & seafood
- Baked Goods – sweet & savoury
- Confectionary – e.g. cookies, sweets, chocs, fudge, macrons, health bars, protein balls etc.
- Beverages – e.g. juices, smoothies, health drinks, alcoholic & non-alcoholic
- Dairy – cultured milk, cream products, ice cream (*no cheeses – see note below)
- Condiments – jams, chutneys, sauces, spice mixes and food ingredients
- “Free From” – This category is strictly for food products which are specifically designed to be
‘free from’ e.g. vegan or gluten free products
Note: *Do not enter cheeses in the dairy category as there is a separate cheese competition.
CHOOSE ONE CATEGORY ONLY FOR EACH PRODUCT. DO NOT ENTER THE SAME PRODUCT IN
MULTIPLE CATEGORIES.
A MAXIMUM OF FIVE PRODUCTS CAN BE ENTERED IN ANY ONE PARTICULAR CATEGORY.
Judging Criteria:
Food Products will be assessed based on 4 criteria:
1. Taste (30%)
2. Texture (30%)
3. Appearance (30%)
4. Packaging (10%)
Note: Presentation, packaging and labelling are an important element of the entry. If packaging is still in development, all products must be adequately labelled.
Entry Date & Fee:
Entry forms are attached and must be returned by email to bestemergingartisan25@gmail.com by WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15th at the latest. The entry fee of €35 (per producer) must be paid via Eventbrite
by this date also. The Eventbrite link is https://Bestemergingartisan.eventbrite.ie. Please ensure the name on the Eventbrite payment matches the name on the entry form. Only fully paid entries will be entered in the competition.
Judging will take place on Tuesday October 21st at Listowel Arms Hotel. Please pay particular attention to the requirements for sending your product.
- All products must be received to the hotel by Monday October 20th at the latest. Ensure yourproducts arrive by this date. NO LATE ENTRIES.
- Take a copy of your application form and include it inside the package when sending your product
- Attach the postage label included in this email to the outside of the box before sending your product and ensure that it is completed fully including relevant storage instructions.
- NOTE: POSTAGE IS NOT INCLUDED AND MUST BE PAID BY THE SENDER
Our judging panel for 2025 will be will be made up of food industry experts as well as representatives from Garveys Supervalu Listowel and our competition sponsor Kerry LEO.
Winners will be notified if their product has been chosen as a winning product by Friday Oct 24th
Prizes
The overall competition winner will receive a prize fund of €1000 plus have their winning product stocked by Garveys Supervalu Listowel for a period of 12 months. The 7 category winners are awarded €250 each. Winners will be invited to attend the Food Fair Gala Dinner on Saturday November 8th to receive their prizes and be part of the press photo call.
All entrants will be invited to attend a post Food Fair mentoring webinar for food producers, details of which will be available at a later date.
For further information, please email: bestemergingartisan25@gmail.com