Blue Ribbon Cookbook wins a prize of its own

In very exciting news for author Liz Harfull and the team at Wakefield Press, it has been announced this week that The Blue Ribbon Cookbook will represent Australia in the 2008 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. The book has been selected from a record number of entries to be named Australian winner for the Best Easy Recipes Book category. It will now compete against finalists from other countries for the Best in the World award, due to be announced at a gala dinner in May 2009.
‘It is extremely exciting to have the book recognised at such a high level, and a great tribute to the team at Wakefield Press who worked on it, as well as the talents and generosity of the show cooks who so willingly shared with me their stories and knowledge,’ Liz said.‘The organisers of the awards tell me there were more entries than ever from Australia this year, and of a high quality. Apparently there were many competitors in the easy recipes book category, including two previous Gourmand Award winners in other categories.’
The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards aim to honour people who ‘cook with words’, and to find the best out of some 26,000 food and wine books produced around the world every year. The awards were founded in 1995 by Edouard Cointreau, a member of the family behind Cointreau liqueur, which has owned vineyards in France since the 13th century.Thousands of books are entered every year, with entries assessed by an international jury. In 2008 there was an estimated 15% to 20% increase in entries, from 102 countries.
Find out more about the awards...

Motoring along

More than 5300 people entered a recent competition to win one of five copies of The Blue Ribbon Cookbook. The competition was run by the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia, through its samotor publication. Public relations coordinator Kimberley Willmer says the number of entries received was the highest for any book competition ever run by the organisation. Winners will be announced at the end of December.