Top Mann! Joe Mann crowned Champion of Champions at Eat Game Awards 2024

Among the worthy winners at this year’s Eat Game Awards was Joe Mann from Queen’s College in Taunton, who was awarded Champion of Champions on the night.

Joe Mann, who has worked at Queen’s College in Taunton since 2021, is a huge advocate for game meat and works tirelessly to share his passion and knowledge with his students. It was his outstanding contribution to educating the next generation about game meat which earned him the coveted Champion of Champions award for 2024.

Joe was quick to praise the school’s students and teaching team following his award, saying: “I’m tremendously thankful for all the pupils and staff that have been involved in us championing game. A huge thank you to Eat Game and BASC for such a prestigious award, we’ve all worked so hard to be part of this.”

The accolade for Best Chef/Cook went to Michelin-starred Mark Kempson, head chef a Kitchen W8 in Kensington. Mark, who has been at Kitchen W8 since it opened in 2009, impressed the judges with the “intrinsic link to every piece of game on the menu for the evening”.

A judge’s testimonial on a visit to the restaurant read: “The venison was fallow haunch, from the Bathurst estate in Cirencester, where Mark had taken his entire team to the estate to witness the process of harvesting the deer, the teal was from a recent wildfowling trip and the hare was shot that week on a shoot he beats on.”

Launched in 2017, the Eat Game Awards celebrate and reward those who go above and beyond to promote game meat as a sustainable and healthy food source.

Last year’s Champion of Champions winner The Clarendon Inn was victorious again, taking home the title of Best Game Restaurant/Pub thanks to its “creative use of cuts” and the ”passion for game which oozed out of chef patron Lionel Strub”.

Speaking about the awards, Annette Woolcock, Eat Game Awards co-ordinator and BASC’s head of wild food, said: “The awards have grown year-on-year and it has been fantastic to see so many new businesses and individuals nominated, and more votes cast than ever before.

“The standard of the entries was higher than ever this year, giving our judging panel a really tough job to separate some of this year’s finalists.

“I want congratulate all of the finalists and encourage them to keep up their excellent work in helping educate people about game meat and normalise it on menus.”