Entries Now Open for the 2024 Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards

21 Mar 2024 / Food, Melbourne Royal News / Australian Food Awards

The 2024 Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards, a hallmark of excellence in Australian food production, have officially opened for entries.

The Awards are open to commercial food producers of all sizes, from boutique operators to large-scale manufacturers. As one of the largest programs of its kind, these prestigious awards have served as a springboard for many of Australia's most successful food products and brands.     

The Awards return with a stronger program in 2024, with the implementation of three distinctive food categories:

  • Preserves
  • Dairy
  • Smallgoods 

Entries for the Awards are now open and will close on Thursday 2 May, with judging to take place at Melbourne Showgrounds from Tuesday 25 June – Tuesday 2 July.

Another exciting new initiative this year is the return of the Trophy Presentation function, which will be held during the 2024 Melbourne Royal Show on Thursday 3 October.

A number of refinements have been made to the program:

  • In response to current market trends and in collaboration with industry experts, we're introducing a brand-new category in Smallgoods. This category features six classes and will award the Champion Smallgoods Trophy.
  • This year the Awards will offer Champion Australian Small Producer, Champion Australian Large Producer, and Champion Victorian Producer trophies for each category (Dairy, Preserves, and Smallgoods).
  • To align the competition with other Dairy competitions and the Grand Dairy Awards, the point scaling for Dairy medals has been adjusted.

Melbourne Royal CEO Brad Jenkins emphasised that the Awards offer producers nationwide an invaluable benchmarking opportunity.

“The Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards proudly acknowledge, celebrate and inspire innovation in Australian food products, produce and producers.

“In response to industry feedback, Melbourne Royal has introduced some changes to the Awards in 2024 to better reflect industry needs, wants and expectations along with consumer interests. One of the most exciting changes is the expansion of the awards program to include Smallgoods.

“Judged by highly respected judges in their specialty areas, the Melbourne Royal Australian Food Awards provide a unique and valuable opportunity for Australian food producers to have their products and produce benchmarked against their peers to improve quality and inspire innovation.

“Medal and Trophy winners can leverage their success and market medal-winning products using the Melbourne Royal seal of excellence.”

Full details of the categories and classes and how to enter the Awards can be found at melbourneroyal.com.au/food