2020 Mogford Prize opens 04 November

Entry for the Eight Annual Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing is set to open on 04 November. Entries for the 2020 prize will be accepted from then until 13 January 2020 through an online form on the Mogford Prize website at https://www.mogfordprize.co.uk/

Food and drink must be at the heart of the winning tale, and the short story could, for instance, be about crime or intrigue; about a chance meeting over a drink; a life-changing conversation over dinner; or perhaps the details of a relationship explored through food or drink.

The prize was founded by Jeremy Mogford, owner of a collection of independent hotels and restaurants in Oxford comprising the Old Bank Hotel and Old Parsonage Hotel, Quod Restaurant, Parsonage Grill and Gee’s Restaurant. Jeremy founded Browns Restaurants in 1973 with then-business partner John Mayhew, before selling the group in 1996 to Bass Brewery.

Every year Jeremy invites two judges to join him in choosing the winner of the £10,000 award – one a writer and the other a journalist involved in the food and drink industry. Past judges have included Lawrence Norfolk and Rick Stein in 2016; Philip Pullman and Mary Berry in 2017; and Bill Bryson and Lorraine Pascale in 2018.

The 2018 Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Short Story Writing was awarded to Jane Cammack of Witney in Oxfordshire. Her 2,500-word story, ‘The Glass Kitchen’, was selected from over 800 entries from writers all over the world.

Elisabeth Ingram Wallace, of Glasgow, was selected from 1,019 entries from writers all over the world as the winner of the Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing in 2019. Elisabeth’s 2,500-word story, ‘Corvidae’, was chosen by Jeremy Mogford, and guest judges; Julian Barnes, English Author and Man Booker Prize winner, and Tim Hayward, FT contributing writer and winner of the Restaurant Writing Award at the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2018.

The 2020 winner will be announced on 01 April 2020, and we are just awaiting final confirmation of who this year’s two distinguished judges will be.

Jeremy Mogford said “I am lucky enough to have enjoyed a lifetime in the hospitality industry with my involvement with Browns Restaurants, Rules in London and my current Oxford collection … Wishing to give something back to the hospitality industry which has been very good to me and combining it with my longstanding link to literary Oxford, in 2013 I decided to sponsor a brand new short story prize which had to specifically relate to the subject of food, drink or both. And so the Mogford Prize for Food & Drink Writing was born…”.