THE hunt is on for the best culinary stars in Brighton and Hove.

They city’s annual food and drinks awards was launched yesterday with 21 categories for the public to nominate on over the summer months.

Nick Mosley, festival director, said: “There are several food awards now running in the city and county, which are all great for creating noise about our food and hospitality industries.

“The model we’ve used for years now - with public nominations followed by secret shopping by judges – genuinely finds the best of the best by avoiding excessive petitioning by restaurants and also bias from faceless judges. For the public to have faith in an award scheme, the process needs to be as transparent as possible.”

New categories for 2017 include Chef of the Year sponsored by Ridgeview Wine Estate, Best Venue Design sponsored by Posture People, and Best Afternoon Tea sponsored by Midnight Communications, representing the breadth of the food scene in Brighton and Hove.

Public nominations run until 31 August via the food festival website, after which time around 30 judges including festival directors, media partners – including The Argus – and sponsors secret shop and interview the top three finalists in each category to find the winning business or individual. The grand finals will be hosted at Merkaba at the My Brighton hotel in Jubilee Street in early November, with winners announced in The Argus.

The awards are run by the team behind the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival, who are currently finalising their programme of events for the Spring Harvest that runs from Thursday, May 18 to Monday, May 29 including three free entry days of events on Hove Lawns on the spring bank holiday.

Jason Edge, marketing director of sonsors Mayo Wynne Baxter said: “We have been heavily involved in the food and drink industry and have seen the quality and variety go from strength to strength in recent years”

“Being involved with these awards puts us at the heart of this exciting industry in Sussex and over the years of our involvement we have seen brilliant developments that have seen the city declared food capital of the UK and seen Sussex producers been used all over the world. We remain very proud to be involved with these awards”.

Independent financial advisor Claire Walsh is a new food awards sponsor.

She said:“I love eating and drinking out particularly in smaller independent places that tend to be more diverse and creative. The food awards are a great way to promote and champion the best that Brighton has to offer”.

To nominate your favourite food and drink businesses in the city visit brightonfoodfestival.com/foodawards2017