‘Gobsmacked’: BOTH Northampton College students walk away from culinary awards with gold

Two Northampton college students have walked away from the annual Weetabix Northamptonshire Food and Drink (WNFAD) awards 2022 with gold.

WNFAD award winners were announced across 15 categories at a glamorous awards ceremony hosted at the Royal & Derngate theatre on Wednesday, October 12.

There were five finalists for the Food and Drink College Student of the Year category and both Tia Echo Morris, 19, and Bilal Ismail, 18, from Northampton College emerged victorious with Gold awards.

Tia told Chronicle & Echo: “I am gobsmacked. I am a little shocked but I am very proud of myself and I am hoping that, in the future, I am going to get a whole lot more and a lot of thanks to the college because they have really really pushed me to do the absolute best I could and that’s how I ended up here so, without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Tia, who describes herself as a “people person” said she would love to run a couple of restaurants or her very own cocktail bar one day and, hopefully, even host her own culinary awards to recognise excellence in the food and drink sector.

Being half Jamaican, Tia’s favourite food to cook is Caribbean cuisine, which she describes as “soul food” for her and she also loves Asian food.

Bilal Ismail, when approached by this newspaper following his gold award win, said: “I’m in total shock, I could never have seen myself getting it.

“Thank you to Phil and everybody for putting myself forward, it’s just such a boost of confidence and it’s pushing me forward now.”

Bilal is African-Indian, which he says has heavily influenced his cooking, and he currently works as a chef at Hilton in Silverstone but has desires to travel.

He said: “There’s so much out there, so many different cuisines and I want to experience it all.”

The Food and Drink College Student of Year Award was aimed at students aged between 16 and 21 currently undertaking a food/drink-related course at a Northamptonshire college.

It was designed to recognise students showing drive, commitment and passion for the sector, those demonstrating exceptional progress in skills development and young ambassadors for learning about food and drink.

Discussing the WNFAD awards, Bilal added: “I just think this sort of thing is very important because it showcases the next generation of chefs and it inspires people to achieve higher, push forward and that’s what we need to keep the industry fresh.”

Other finalists in the category included Elisabeth Knott, from Moulton College, who won Silver, and Luke Wolstencroft and Will McGowan, from Tresham College, who both won Bronze.

The WNFAD awards, now in its fourteenth year, received hundreds of nominations and applications across 15 categories from a diverse range of ambitious and driven individuals and businesses across Northamptonshire’s food and drink sector.

The awards aim to celebrate all that is great about local produce and drink, recognising excellence within the county’s dining venues and rewarding those who work so hard within the culinary sector.

To find out more, visit https://www.northamptonshirefoodanddrink.co.uk/.