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The first prize of £500 cash and a Caterers’ Challenge trophy which will be presented at the LACA Awards for Excellence gala dinner on 6th July. Entries were judged on their creativity and ability to engage the kids with the campaign.

The judges awarded Carryduff Primary School first place due to the high levels of creativity involved in their entry to bring the new for 2023 ‘Taking over the World’ theme to life.

This included transforming their dining hall into a landing station and the children travelling on ‘Veg Power’ airlines to different parts of the world and the culinary delights on offer. Each class also decorated parts of the dining hall and their classroom door with artwork from a different country.

As part of its role as official sponsor of the Caterers’ Challenge, the Tilda Challenge was also run for school chefs to create an international recipe that blends vegetables and rice and inspires families to cook together.

The Tilda Challenge winning recipe was Caribbean rice and will join Veg Power’s online recipe collection appearing alongside recipes by Jamie Oliver, Sir Paul McCartney and dozens of other famous chefs.

Mrs Preston, headteacher at Carryduff Primary School, said: “We are thrilled that our fabulous kitchen team has won these two awards. They go out of their way to promote healthy eating messages throughout the year, but they pulled out all the stops for the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign.

“This year, our pupils jetted off around the world to try some foods they maybe hadn’t tried before including jungle jollof, Caribbean chicken & rice and oriental noodles. Everyone got involved and had lots of fun because our kitchen staff put in so much hard work. It is wonderful to see all that effort and enthusiasm recognised at a national level.”

The Caterers’ Challenge was held as part of the Eat Them To Defeat Them schools’ programme in which 631,451 children from 1,730 schools across the UK participated.

Dan Parker, chief executive at Veg Power, added: “We are so grateful to all the catering teams for their enthusiasm, effort and creativity in bringing this campaign alive for children within schools and playing a key role in its success.

“We received so many excellent entries that the judges’ task was very difficult again this year and we would like to thank everyone who entered for their role in the campaign and importantly, encouraging so many more children to try and enjoy vegetables.”