The Australian Food Media Awards 20008 will be announced on 27 September this year in a glittering evening ceremony at the Parkside Ballroom, Sydney Convention and Exhibitions Centre.

The 23 Award category winners will be named that evening, each Award sponsored by supportive industry corporations and individuals. For the first time, the public are invited to attend and enjoy the night, participating directly in the Award festivities.

An inaugural Lifestyle Channel's People's Choice Award will be an audience favourite. The country's cuisine lovers have picked up pens to advise who from a short list of nationally revered food personalities should win the prize of Best Food Communicator.

"The evening celebrates the breadth of the food and wine industry's creative ability and its relationship with the Australian community," says Stewart White, the President of Food Media Club Australia, which presents the Award ceremony bi-annually. "To be judged by one's peers is a priceless present, and for Award winners it is a reinforcement of capability - and a tangible reminder of best and enduring professional work."

Award categories include Best Food Sections for national, metropolitan and regional newspapers ( 4 in all) Best food-based Website, Best Nutritional Writing, Best Food and Wine Writing, Best Recipe Feature in a newspaper or newspaper magazine, Best Food Related Book, Best Recipe Book (under and over $36), Best Cookery Book by a Chef or Restaurant, Best Radio Food segment, Best Food Based Website, and Best Overall Contribution to the Communication of Food.

Important categories that encourage new writers into the industry are the Judy Hirst Memorial Award for the Best New Writer, and the Margaret Fulton Award which recognises 'potential in an emerging recipe writer'.

The perceptive industry partners who sponsor the Awards, recognising the worth of the written and independent word, include stalwarts Simon Johnson, Australian Pork, Australian Mushroom Growers, Meat and Livestock Australia, Nuts for Life, the Dairy Industry, The Good Food and Wine Show, Australian Egg Corporation, Kenwood, Sizzler, Le Cordon Bleu, Alfa One Rice Bran Oil, Fuji Knives, Ocean Spray, Wild Banana Prawns, Sofitel Wentworth Hotel and the Food Media Club Australia (FMCA).

The Australian Food Media Awards are presented by the Food Media Club Australia, in recognition of communications excellence.

For further information and tickets visit the Food Media Club website or phone (02) 9518 7722.