We welcome you to the André Simon Food and Drink book awards for 2012.

Once again we are accepting entries from publishers. Biography, science, travel and guidebooks are all welcome along with the more obvious books related to the ever lively world of food and drink.

The trustees appreciate how much work is put into the writing and publishing of these books. Every book is discussed and considered by the trustees and assessors.

We are delighted to be joined this year by Jeremy Lee as our food assessor. Jeremy is well known for his food writing and his recent role on BBC2's The Great British Menu. He was the Head Chef at the Blueprint Café for sixteen years and he has recently moved north of the Thames to Quo Vadis in Soho. It is a move that has been warmly welcomed by the food critics. Assessing the drink books we are pleased to welcome author and journalist Harry Eyres. Harry writes the Slow Lane column in the Financial Times Weekend, which appears in the UK, US, Europe and Asia. He is also a poet and has been a theatre critic for the Times, drinks editor of Harpers & Queen, wine writer for the Spectator and poetry editor of the Daily Express.

John Avery, who had been a trustee of the fund since its inception, sadly died earlier this year and will be greatly missed. However, we are pleased to announce that David Gleave MW has agreed to join us as a trustee. David is managing director of Liberty Wines, a UK importer of wines from Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia and many other countries. He was born and educated in Canada but has lived in Europe since 1978. He passed his MW in 1986, and has written widely on Italian wines.

There is no fee required to enter the awards. Publishers should just send a copy of each book to our Chairman, the trustees, the appropriate assessor and the secretary to the fund. All the details are on this website along with the entry form. If you have any questions please contact Katie Lander directly on katie@andresimon.co.uk. We are now on twitter so you can follow us there on @andresimon for all the updates on closing dates, shortlists and the winners.

JULIAN COTTERELL
CHAIRMAN