Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2013: James Martin wins Special Award

10-Jun-2013 - Last updated on 01-Aug-2024 at 11:20 GMT

Celebrity chef James Martin won the Special Award as the Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2013 were handed out in a ceremony at London's Grosvenor House Hotel

Celebrity chef James Martin, host of BBC TV show Saturday Kitchen, has scooped the Special Award at the Craft Guild of Chefs (CGC) Awards 2013 which also honoured Lima restaurant and The Ivy's April Partridge.

Martin was the recipient of this year's Special Award at the annual ceremony, now in its 20th year, which was held last night in front of an audience of more than 800 industry professionals gathered at London's Grosvenor House Hotel.

The Guild’s royal patron, Sophie, Countess of Wessex, handed out the awards to the night’s winners.

Enormous contribution

Of the 16 award categories, the Special Award, sponsored by Sodexo, is the only one where nominations are not required - the winner is chosen by the committee of the CGC who choose one person that has made an 'enormous contribution' to the industry.

The celebrity chef follows in the footsteps of Heston Blumenthal, Brian Turner, Raymond Blanc, Phil Howard and Cyrus Todiwala who have all won the Special Award previously.

Of the 19 previous Special Award winners, 12 were present on the stage earlier in the evening to mark the 20^th anniversary of the awards.

Martin took to Twitter to express his thanks and surprise at winning the award:

Thank you to all my peers! twitter.com/jamesmartinche…
— James Martin (@jamesmartinchef) June 11, 2013

Reach out

Opening the awards dinner and ceremony, Christopher Basten, newly-appointed chair of the CGC, said the awards were designed to reward chef talent from every area of the industry; from fine dining restaurants and pubs to contract caterers and staff in the armed services.

“The Craft Guild of Chefs is inclusive and this is an important message to spread throughout the industry,” he said. “We bring together people from all aspects of the hospitality and foodservice sectors - from those just starting out in their careers to those at the very top of their game.

“We want to reach out to everyone that shares our passion for our industry,” Basten added.

New Restaurant

Robert Ortiz, head chef at Lima restaurant in London, collected the prize for New Restaurant of the Year - a category which was open to any establishment that started trading after January 2011.

Pascal Aussignac from Gascon Connection was named Restaurant Chef, while Stosie Madi from The Parkers Arms in Lancashire collected the Pub Chef Award.

Other winners included April Partridge from The Ivy who was named Young Chef of the year, Ruth Hansom from Boundary Restaurant who collected the Apprentice Chef Award and Simon Boyle from the Beyond Food Foundation who was named the People's Choice for his work at the Brigade Bar & Bistro after a vote by CGC members.

Javier Mercado from Le Cordon Bleu received the Competition Chef prize after his work with the UK team at the World Pastry Cup.

The Craft Guild of Chef Awards 2013 winners: