Geoffrey Roberts Award Accepting Applications

[Rebel Rose]

The Geoffrey Roberts Award is an international travel bursary worth £3,000 (about $6,000) given each year to someone who can demonstrate to the judges that their travels are likely to make a positive difference to the worlds of food, drink and/or travel.

Possible winners might include a young sommelier or wine merchant exploring an unfamiliar wine region; perhaps a chef de partie researching restaurants and cuisine on the other side of the world; or a trainee hotelier gaining first-hand experience of professional life elsewhere. The trustees and judges would like, however, to encourage applicants to broaden their experience not just geographically but into a related field. The Award could be used by a young chef to learn about wine, for example, or by someone in the hospitality industry to learn more about food.

Florida geography teacher Richard Villadoniga used the 2007 award to finance a road trip across the United States with the aim of highlighting some of the country's endangered foodstuffs and promoting greater awareness of them via local media opportunities. He has now incorporated what he learnt into a teaching module to make American children more aware of their food heritage. See Richard's journey at www.eat-american.com

2007 joint winner was Jock Brandis on behalf of www.fullbellyproject.org which designs and supplies very simple, highly relevant machinery such as mechanical peanut shellers to impoverished communities in Africa, thereby helping them to increase their income substantially.

The list of judges is impressive. Although I am not sure who the current judges are, the list of past judges includes:

Anthony Barton, Chateau Leoville Barton, Bordeaux

David Brown, La Potiniere , Scotland

Sally Clarke, Clarke's restaurant and bakery, London

Brian Croser, Petaluma , Australia

Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards, California

Jill Dupleix, The Times cook, London

Dick Graff, found Chalone Vineyards, California

Tim Hart, Hambleton Hall, Rutland

Paul Henderson, Gidleigh Park , Devon

Ken Hom, food writer and broadcaster

Hugh Johnson, wine writer, Essex and London

David Michaels, Hilton Group, London

Hazel Murphy, Australian Wine Board, London

Ramon Pajares, hotelier, London

Jancis Robinson, wine writer, London