Every year, hundreds of businesses, organisations, schools, community groups and individuals take part in National Vegetarian Week and make it a huge success.
Once again, we're giving a special Local Hero Award to those we think have made an exceptional effort to celebrate the Week. The winners in each category below will receive a special trophy and the right to boast about their brilliant achievement!
When the Week has finished, our panel of judges will pore through the entries that were submitted on the 'What’s Happening' page and choose winners for:
- Local Organisation Hero
- Local School Hero
- Local Community Group Hero
- Individual Hero
LocalLo
Local Hero 2012 winners:
Local Organisation Hero
Joint Winners: Highgate House and City University London
A finalist in the Northampton Food and Drink Awards 2011/2012 in the Best Restaurant category, The Terrace restaurant at Highgate House is well-known in the local area for great food and is also Vegetarian Society Approved. During NVW 2012 they pulled out the stops, offering a vegetarian set menu with fifteen mouth-watering dishes to choose from, including spiced lentil cakes with celeriac and mango slaw and iced berry parfait with marinated strawberries.
City University London also went the extra mile, offering a veggie-only menu in its main catering outlet on campus and increasing meat-free choices in all other restaurants and cafes. The university also created posters and set up information stalls at the main entrance and in the student centre, committing themselves to promoting the benefits of a vegetarian diet throughout the Week.
Local School Hero
Winner: Barnfield West Academy
Having fun with veggie food is a big part of National Vegetarian Week and Barnfield West Academy certainly had a good time celebrating. Teachers and students battled each other in a cook-off competition, with the winner receiving a veggie recipe book of their choice. The school cafeteria went completely veggie for the Week too and students and staff took photos of the meat-free meals they’d enjoyed and made a huge collage out of them.
Local Community Group Hero
Winner: Marlow Vegetarian Group
Highlighting our breakfast focus perfectly, our Marlow local group hit the town’s streets early in the morning five days in a row to give out free veggie sausage sarnies to grateful residents. Now that’s care in the community!
Individual Hero
Winner: Beth Gourley
For years 79-year-old Beth Gourley, one of our local contacts in Belfast, has been hitting the streets for NVW on foot, hand-delivering resources and posters galore to libraries, cafes, restaurants, shopping centres, nursing homes, hotels, hospitals and more to help spread awareness in the city. Beth also contacts schools in the area and offers to give talks to students about vegetarianism, as well as organising and staffing information tables whilst also seeking others who can give her a hand with getting our message out in Northern Ireland.