Let's talk about the British Pie Awards

Feb 27

Let’s talk about the British Pie Awards

It’s one of Melton’s biggest events in the spring calendar but what is it all about? Let me give you a brief rundown.

What is the British Pie Awards and when is it taking place?

The British Pie Awards is organised by Matthew O’Callaghan, chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association and the man behind Melton’s 4 main food festivals. First coverage of the awards online happened in 2012 and 12 years later it is seen as the Oscars/Crufts/Grammys of the pie-making world by both makers and the national press. Last year over 900 pies entered so it’s a HUGE deal.

This year’s awards will be taking place at St Mary’s Church. The pies will be delivered on the 5th March and the actually judging will happen on the 6th. Those who are lucky enough to win an award will then be invited to an awards lunch on the 8th March.

What pies have won previously?

The most recent winner is actually based in the borough. The Moo And Blue pie is a steak, ale and stilton pie made by Brockleby’s, who are based next to the Asfordby roundabout branch of Grange Garden Centre. Many followers of the awards saw it as a more “traditional” return following previous victories by a gluten-free vegetarian pie (2022) and vegan pie (2019)

If one is to look at the full list of pie winners on the website, then the breakdown looks a little bit like this:

According to my research, the website does not name any fruit pie supreme champions. Meaning that any fruity pie that takes the top spot this year will have the accolade of being the only fruit pie (based on the data that Kelly found), that is a British Pie Award supreme champion. Pretty big stakes for your humble apple pie.

What can we expect this year?

This year, there will be over 800 pies split across 24 categories. These categories feature everything from The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie to fish. These pies will be judged by 147 lucky humans, sorry, I mean judges. Pies will be given a bronze/ silver or gold award based on their total score and the best pie in each category, battle it out to become the supreme pie champion.

Unfortunately, members of the public aren’t able to attend the actual awards but the church will be open on the 6th March from 10am to 3pm, if you want to have a quick gander. That being said, if you want to buy something from the champions, consider visiting PieFest in August. Many of the makers including last year’s supreme pie champion have stalls selling their pastry goods so there’s no reason why you couldn’t host your own pie-tasting competition in the comfort of your own home.

Let me know in the comments section what pie you think is going to take the gong. Until next time folks, vote on the poll below and follow My Melton on the socials.