Meet the judges

Head judge Louise Moore is the Managing Director of Michael Joseph, one of the biggest commercial lists at Penguin Random House. Louise first joined the division as Editorial Director in 1997 and became MD in 2006. She heads up a talented publishing team dedicated to delivering the best commercial fiction and non-fiction titles, including bestselling authors such as Jamie Oliver, Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes, Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Sue Townsend and Sue Perkins.

Jimi is a British-Nigerian author, broadcaster, freelance journalist and a regular guest judge on the BBC One series MasterChef. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Wired, GQ, Empire, and Time Out, and he’s currently the Evening Standard’s chief restaurant critic. Jimi won the Guild of Food Writers Restaurant Writing Award in both 2020 and 2021 and the Fortnum & Mason Awards Restaurant Writer of the Year in 2021. His first non-fiction book, Settlers: Journeys Through the Food, Faith and Culture of African London, will be published in October 2022.

A cook, food writer and stylist from north London, Georgina writes for publications such as The Telegraph, Delicious magazine and Observer Food Monthly, and in 2021 she won the Fortnum & Mason Best Cookery Writer Award for her work in Waitrose Food magazine. Growing up above her grandparents’ Greek-Cypriot taverna, she developed a love of cooking from the recipes passed down to her. Her first book, Stirring Slowly, was published in 2016, followed by a book about the food of her Cypriot family, Taverna, in 2019. Her third book Nistisima will be published in March 2022.