RYEDALE is celebrating after success at a Yorkshire-wide food and drinks business awards.

Malton Food Lovers Festival was crowned the overall winner of the Garbutt + Elliott Yorkshire Food and Drink Business Awards for 2020.

The food festival organisers, Visit Malton, were also recognised with the Spirit of Yorkshire award.

Other category winners include Gilly Robinson, from Malton Cookery School, who won Yorkshire Food & Drink Ambassador, and Yorkshire Wolds Apple Juice, from Malton, who won Quench Yorkshire.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, director of Malton Food Lovers Festival, said: “We are thrilled to have won. The festival is an important part of Malton and the award means a huge amount to us and the traders here.

“Having grown enormously over the last 12 years to become a three-day event, it attracts people from all over Yorkshire and further afield.

“Not only that, it is highly important in positioning Malton as a foodie destination, so to win the award is recognition of all that hard work and fantastic.”

Businesses across Yorkshire entered 15 award categories, with 57 hotels, restaurants, producers and firms shortlisted.

Stephanie Moon, chef consultant and category judge, said: “Yorkshire’s food and drink industry is all about local producers and businesses supporting each other, friendship and community.

“The awards really encapsulate that and are a brilliant way of showcasing the talent of region.

“Visit Malton Food Lovers Festival was a worthy winner in recognition of its contribution to the producers and region as a whole.”

Tony Farmer, partner at Garbutt + Elliott, said: “We have thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the winners as we have travelled around Yorkshire and presented the awards.

“It has been a difficult year for many small businesses, so it was great to recognise their hard work and the effort that goes in.

“We enjoyed sampling some produce and bringing a smile, which is what the awards is all about.”