Entries have been open online on www.irishfoodawards.com since the 17th of March. So far applications have been busy, with levels in line with previous years.
From talking to the producers in our network we know that many of you see the awards as a date to look forward to and a time to come together to celebrate the best of Irish food later in the year.
We are also aware that many producers are under pressure at this time, whether operationally with busy production keeping shelves stocked or adapting to new ways of reaching your customers. To support producers at this time we are extending the early bird deadline for entries to 30th April.
It is fortunate that at the moment we are in an online stage of the Blas process, with first judging due to take place in the summer in late June and the remainder throughout July. We are working towards these dates and watching the situation closely, if any of our summer judging dates are affected we will be in touch with producers to advise of any rescheduling.
We also ask that any individual producers with questions or concerns keep in touch with us to see how we can help.
We hope this extension to early bird entries will help in these challenging times.