Local Artisans Bid to Broadcast Success at BBC Food Awards
Food artisans from Northern Ireland are in the running for a prestigious BBC Food and Farming Awards 2026, one of the industry’s most influential.
The awards ceremony takes place this year in Belfast, the first time ever, where the winners will be announced. The colourful event is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and FoodNI. The winners will be announced on 21 st October in Titanic, Belfast.
The finalists in each category were chosen from thousands of nominations from across the UK by an expert panel of judges led by local celebrity chef Paula McIntyre.
Paula explains: “The expert judges were looking for those individuals and businesses who make life better through food. They could be at the cutting edge of innovation, leading on the best environmental practices or bringing communities together.”
Shortlisted from Northern Ireland were a craft brewery from the foothills of the Mournes; a gin and whiskey distiller from Crossgar; a producer of rapeseed oil from Limavady; a farm from Tyrone; a seaweed campaigner from Kilkeel; and a beef farm from Greyabbey.
The rapeseed oil is produced by fifth generation farmers Richard and Leona Kane at Broighter Gold at Broglasco, outside LImavady, the same land where the Broighter Hoard was discovered in 1896.
Based in Warrenpoint, Mourne Mountain Brewery produces a diverse range of ales, lagers, and stouts using fresh mountain water from the Mournes and high-quality Irish ingredients. With a focus on quality, creativity, and consistency, it crafts characterful beers that appeal to drinkers seeking distinctive flavour.
Shortcross is an award-winning independent distillery based on the Rademon Estate at Crossgar. Known for its handcrafted gin and whiskey, the distillery combines traditional methods with locally sourced ingredients to create premium spirits that reflect the character of the surrounding landscape.
Bronagh O’Kane, who is shortlisted for the Farming for the Future Award, returned to the family farm in Co Tyrone after an engineering career in the Royal Air Force. Driven by a desire to improve the farm’s resilience and future legacy.
In the running for the BBC Radio Ulster Food Hero Award is Jenna Morris, a Seaweed Food Ambassador at Crawford’s Rock in Kilkeel, a producer of wild, sustainably harvested seaweed. Crawford’s Rock Seaweed is a family-run business dedicated to preserving Ireland’s coastal food heritage.
Ballyboley Dexters, a family-run farm on the east coast of Co Down is also listed for this award. While best known for producing Dexter beef, their wider mission is to champion local food, nature-friendly farming and producers across Northern Ireland.
Stephen and Lorraine, alongside Hannah, Matthew and Naomi around ten years ago made the decision to create their own market for the food they produce.
