The Judges

Jamie Oliver

Chef, cookbook writer and food campaigner who has encouraged millions of people to enjoy cooking fresh, delicious food from scratch over his 20-year+ career.

Mary Berry

Legendary food writer, chef, baker and television presenter, who has decades of culinary expertise under her belt.

Prue Leith DBE

She’s run her own restaurants, catering and cookery school businesses; written 14 cookbooks, is a judge on the Great British Bake Off, and has been the chair of the School Food Trust, responsible for the improvement of school food and food education… there’s nothing this lady can’t do!

Joe Wicks

The fitness coach, TV presenter and social media star is on a mission to make the world fitter, healthier and happier.

Jimi Famurewa

Journalist and The Evening Standard’s chief restaurant critic, who recently published his first book Settlers: Journeys Through The Food, Faith & Culture Of Black African London.

Jessica Ennis-Hill

2012 Olympic gold-winning heptathlete and three-time World Athletic Champion, who is now a BBC commentator and runs Jennis, an app specialising in women’s health.

Greg James

The Radio 1 breakfast DJ is also co-author of the children’s book series Kid Normal, and co-presents the award-winning cricket podcast Tailenders.

Jermaine Jenas

The England footballer turned pundit is now a hugely successful TV presenter, fronting The One Show Monday-Wednesday with Alex Jones, and is the lead host of Formula E, covering all the key races in 2024 and 2025.

Danny Jones

Danny is a member of pop group McFly. He’s also produced many budding artists, and been a judge on ITV’s The Voice Kids, serving as a coach to young singers.

Niamh McGrady

A film, stage and TV actress from Northern Ireland, Niamh is best known for her roles in Holby City, BBC thriller The Fall and Hope Street.

George Webster

The CBeebies presenter, actor and dancer has Down’s Syndrome, and wants to show the world that people with a learning disability can dream big and be employed.

Big Has

This Fifteen graduate has gone on to have his own culinary success on YouTube and released his book Big Has Home in 2022.

Ellie Simmonds OBE

One of the world’s most celebrated Paralympians, Ellie is a true golden girl of British sport. She shot to fame at the age of just 13 at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing.

Seema Pankhania

Seema Pankhania (aka @seemagetsbaked) is a superstar food creator, with over 1.3M followers and 31.8M Likes on TikTok and 414k on Instagram. Her food is joyful and exuberant, packed with flavour and fuelled by her appetites for travel and adventure.

AND WE HAVE AN EXPERT PANEL OF ADVISERS…

We’re very proud to have some of the most amazing experts in the business helping us to shortlist these awards. School food is their bread and butter and they know exactly what to look for.

Stephanie Slater, one of our expert panel

Stephanie Slater, Chair of Good School Food Awards

As Founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, we’ve been working alongside Stephanie for 15 years and are constantly inspired by her enthusiasm, creativity and depth of knowledge.

Steve Chalke - founder of the Oasis Trust

Steve Chalke MBE

Steve founded the Oasis Trust, which provides housing, education and healthcare, among other things, for those affected by inequality. He is now working with the Ministry of Justice to create the UK’s first Secure School.

Lee Connelly

Lee was named the UK’s leading children’s gardening educator in 2023. His commitment to teaching the next generation of green thumbs led him to found School Gardening Success, dedicated to bringing horticulture into primary schools.

Dr Nikita Kanani MBE

Dr Nikita is a GP and Director of Clinical Integration. She’s passionate about reducing health inequalities, and set up STEMMsisters to help young people study science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine.

Henry Dimbleby

Henry co-authored The School Food Plan in 2013, a blueprint for government that set out actions to transform what children eat in schools and how they learn about food. He also co-founded the Leon restaurant chain, and the charity Chefs in Schools.

Anna Taylor OBE

Anna is Executive Director of the Food Foundation which is an incredible force for good in the world of food. She has advised the Mayor of London as a member of the London Food Board and was the Chief Independent Adviser on Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy. Read more… She has been awarded an OBE for her work on global undernutrition, and advises the Mayor of London as well as the government’s ‘food tsar’ Henry Dimbleby. Show less

Jeannette Orrey MBE

Jeannette is a school meals legend, starting off in the industry in the 1980s and working with Jamie around the time of School Dinners. Read more… Beyond the school canteen, she’s met Prince Charles, advised the Archers for a storyline on local food, won a Blue Peter badge, authored a best selling book “The Dinner Lady”, and co-founded Food For Life. Show less

Jenny Rosborough

What Jenny Rosborough doesn’t know about nutrition isn’t worth knowing! We’re very lucky to have her as Head of Nutrition at Jamie Oliver HQ, bringing her expertise and fierce passion for kids’ health to the cause.

Nureen Glaves

Nureen is the founder and CEO of Feed Me Good, which transforms food education in schools and champions the most vulnerable and marginalised communities to help them achieve their potential. Read more… She has has more than two decades of experience as a brilliant chef and committed public health nutritionist. Show less

Brad Pearce

Brad runs CATERed, a school food cooperative that provides fresh, hot lunches to 70 schools across the Plymouth area. He’s also the Immediate Past Chair for LACA. Read more… This amazing workforce serves up around 3 million lunches in 27,000 schools every day! Show less

Nicole Pisani

Nicole Pisani was head chef at top London restaurant Nopi, but now you’ll find her in a school kitchen. Read more… She co-founded Chefs in Schools to replicate this recipe for success. We’re so glad she’s using her talents to feed kids well. Show less

Dan Parker

Dan spent 25 years working in marketing and advertising for the world’s largest food brands. Now he uses those ninja persuasive skills to inspire kids to eat more vegetables as CEO of Veg Power.

Judith Gregory

Judith is LACA National Vice Chair. Judith heads up the school meal service at Cardiff Council, providing hot, nutritious meals for 116 primary, special and secondary schools across the city.

Marc Thompson

Marc Thompson is the Headteacher at Mandeville Primary School, part of the LEAP federation in Hackney, East London. Marc is passionate about ensuring all children have access to free, high quality, nourishing school meals and is committed to embedding sustainable food education in the curriculum.

Rob Percival

Rob Percival has more than a decade of school food policy expertise under his belt. Now he heads up food policy at The Soil Association.

Dr Nicholas Capstick OBE

Nicholas has looked after a lot of schools in his time as CEO of the White Horse Federation multi-academy trust. Read more… He may be technically retired, but luckily for us he’s showing no sign of slowing down his campaigning to make sure all pupils are fed well, no matter where they live. Show less

Kemi Akinola

Kemi is a trustee, governor, director, and Deputy Leader for Wandsworth Council. Her work with Be Enriched and Brixton People’s Kitchen takes local action to the next level – she’s truly inspiring!

Jacqueline Farrell

As Education Director at The Prince’s Foundation, Jacqueline’s remit is driven by the vision of charity founder HM King Charles III – creating communities for a more sustainable world. Her role involves overseeing education and training in multiple curriculum areas.

Myles Bremner

Myles is the oracle of school food. We don’t think there is a single fact or figure he doesn’t know. We’ve tested him a lot, and he hasn’t cracked yet!

Barbara Crowther

Barbara hails from Bolton and she’s spent 30 years working for good people doing good things, from Save the Children to the Children’s Food Campaign. We’re so glad to have her on our team.

Neil Leitch

Neil came out of retirement to become the CEO of the Early Years Alliance, to give a louder voice to those who are caring for and educating young children. We can’t wait to see what he makes of the Early Years Award entries…

Chris Ross

Chris heads up catering services for the City of Edinburgh Council in his day job, but he also oversees a network of all the Local Authority school food providers across Scotland – together they serve over 400,000 meals every single day!

Jenny Elms

Jenny has more than 30 years’ experience in food education. She worked as a food teacher for 20 years, and creates brilliant resources to inspire young people with a love of cooking.

Anita Brown

Anita is the National Chair for LACA, which represents the caterers who provide 80% of school food across England and Wales. This amazing workforce serves up around 3 million lunches in 27,000 schools every day!

Mia Clifford

Mia has been a Biteback activist since the summer of 2022 and has been involved in a number of our campaigns and spoken to decision makers at different levels. She joined Biteback to prove young people can make a positive difference and is passionate about seeing a change in our food system. Mia believes that junk food giants need to take more accountability for the role they play in child health.

Kay Batkin

As Network Director at the Youth Sport Trust, Kay champions lifelong physical activity for all young people. Through her leadership, she emphasises the charity’s values of physical health in wellbeing and education’s role in equipping youth, drawing from her childhood enriched by sport and play.

Adam Flint

Adam is the Education Manager at Keep Britain Tidy where he manages the delivery of Eco-Schools, the UK’s largest environmental education programme. He’s passionate about helping young people be at the forefront of climate action.