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The LACA Awards for Excellence 2020 - Categories & Criteria

09 Jul 2020

Nominations are now closed.

LACA PRIMARY SCHOOL CATERING TEAM OF THE YEAR

This award aims to give recognition to a primary school based catering team which has made an outstanding contribution to raising the profile of education catering within the school and/or its local community.

The winning team will receive a trophy and a certifcate.

The winning primary team will have demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm, initiative, commitment and effort in devising and/or implementing activities, which increase awareness of and support the school’s food service.

Maintaining a consistent level of professional standards in dayto-day work will be taken into account as much as originality and creativity. Candidates should seek to highlight the aims behind any ideas, outline through examples and visual illustrations how the plans were put into action and provide evidence of the achievements or results. Partnerships with stakeholders and any other relevant awards or accreditations received such as the Healthy School Standard should be included in the submission.

This high profile award represents a significant accolade for a primary school team whose performance has pushed the promotional boundaries and made a major impact on customer attitudes towards or uptake of its school’s food service.

The submission can also include information on how the catering team have overcome significant business and/or personal difficulties to ensure the continued delivery of their service during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Submission requirements
• Up to a maximum of 1000 words (word count to be shown)
• Two letters of support
• No more than 6 pictures or graphics
• Support information not to exceed 6 x A4 sheets
• Digital photograph of the nominated team
• 50 word overview of the entry

Judging criteria
Marks will be given for each element of the criteria identified above and with compliance to the submission requirements.

LACA SECONDARY SCHOOL CATERING TEAM OF THE YEAR

This award aims to give recognition to a secondary school based catering team which has made an outstanding contribution to raising the profile of education catering within the school and/or its local community.

The winning secondary school team will receive a trophy and certificate.

The winning secondary team will have demonstrated a high level of enthusiasm, initiative, commitment and effort in devising and/or implementing activities which increase awareness of and support the school’s food service.

Maintaining a consistent level of professional standards in day to day work will be taken into account as much as originality and creativity. Candidates should seek to highlight the aims behind any ideas, outline through examples and visual illustrations how the plans were put into action and provide evidence of the achievements or results. Partnerships with stakeholders and any other relevant awards or accreditations received such as the Healthy School Standard should be included in the submission.

This high profile award represents a significant accolade for a secondary school team whose performance has pushed the promotional boundaries and made a major impact on customer attitudes towards or uptake of its school’s food service.

The submission can also include information on how the catering team have overcome significant business and/or personal difficulties to ensure the continued delivery of their service during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Submission requirements
• Up to a maximum of 1000 words (word count to be shown)
• Two letters of support
• No more than 6 pictures
• Support information not to exceed 6 x A4 sheets
• Digital photograph of the nominated team
• 50 word overview of the entry

Judging criteria
Marks will be given for each element of the criteria identified above and with compliance to the submission requirements.

LACA UNSUNG HERO AWARD

This award is looking to celebrate those unsung heroes within the school catering industry.  We are encouraging anyone who has seen amazing dedication, or who has witnessed someone go above and beyond in their role, to send in their nominations for the Unsung Hero Award.

The winner will receive a trophy and certificate.

The recipient of this award will have demonstrated a unique contribution to the school catering industry, whether this individual works within the school, is a supporter of school meals or provides or supplies to the industry.

The consequences or outcomes of this individual’s contribution will have demonstrated added value, new initiatives or a unique situation that benefited the school catering service in some way.

This award is about raising the profile of an individual who under normal circumstances would go unrecognised.

The submission can also include information on how the nominee has overcome significant business and/or personal difficulties to ensure the continued delivery of their service during the Coronavirus pandemic

Submission requirements
• Up to a maximum of 1000 words (word count to be shown)
• Support material not to exceed 4 x A4 sheets, which should include two or more independent testimonials that could come from a recipient of a school meal, parent, teacher, co-worker or catering manager.  To also include a maximum of 6 supporting images.
• Digital photograph of the person or team being nominated
• 50 word overview of the entry

Judging criteria
Marks will be given for each element of the criteria identified above and with compliance to the submission requirements.

LACA OUTSTANDING SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR AWARD

This award is in recognition of a LACA Partner or Associate Member who has consistently maintained the highest level of support and service excellence to the education catering sector.

The winner will receive a trophy and a framed certificate.

The winning supplier will not only have demonstrated a fundamental appreciation of the requirements of local authority catering and exceptional commitment but a significant degree of loyalty, active involvement and an immeasurable contribution to the future development and growth of education catering.

The activities of a key member of the organisation may be equally considered suitable criteria for this award, through individual support to local authority catering above and beyond their job role.

The winning supplier may be a dynamic force in the market place that regularly handles challenges with positive and workable solutions. Other winning attributes to be considered would be a friendly, helpful sales team, excellent customer service and efficient business sales and distribution systems.

The submission can also include information on how the nominated company worked with existing and new clients to help them overcome significant business and/or personal difficulties to ensure the continued delivery of their service during the Coronavirus pandemic.

This award is open for school meal providers to nominate a supplier/manufacturer company or one of its departments, divisions or individual employees. The category is also open to suppliers and manufacturers themselves to put forward their own company, a department or an individual for consideration.

Submission requirements
• Up to a maximum of 1000 words (word count to be shown)
• Support material not to exceed 6 x A4 sheets
• 50 word overview of the entry

Judging criteria
Marks will be given for each element of the criteria identified above and with compliance to the submission requirements.