Jamie Oliver Reveals Australia’s Food Hero Award Winners

Chef and child health campaigner Jamie Oliver and his celebrity judging panel today announced the five winners of the inaugural Food Hero Awards. The winners were carefully chosen by an expert panel and celebrity judges from over 1,200 entries from across Australia.

The Food Hero Awards celebrate unsung food heroes who are positively changing the Australian food system. Entries across every category were incredibly high from Food Educator of the Year, Food Kindness Award, Food for Movement, Community or School Food Champion to Food Entrepreneur of the Year.

Winners came from across Australia including Mulan Aboriginal Community in Western Australia, Mooroopna Victoria, Kalkaringi Northern Territory, Melbourne Victoria, and South Albury New South Wales to celebrate their incredible work in making sure Australian kids are well nourished and supported, often working in incredibly challenging situations with high levels of food insecurity.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of its 20-years of operation in more than 1,000 schools and early learning centres around Australia. The award comes just as the Foundation launches their national fundraising campaign, the Food Education Drive (FED).

Jamie Oliver said, “Australia has always had a special place in my heart and I was very excited to launch the Food Hero Awards here. We have kicked it off in the most incredible way, and I want to congratulate all the winners – you’re all utterly brilliant. All those involved have gone above and beyond in our first year. There’s such an appetite to shine a light on best practice, as well as passionate, caring people who devote themselves to inspiring the next generation.”

 FOOD EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR

WINNER: Karen Dack from EON Aboriginal Foundation in the Northern Territory PRESENTED BY JUDGES: Jamie Oliver, Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Tobie Puttock Karen is a Project Manager at Kalkaringi School and is deeply passionate about educating the community on how to grow, harvest, and cook fresh produce.

She’s also part of the EON Thriving Communities Program which teaches the importance of nutrition to reduce diabetes and heart disease in remote communities. Karen works closely with students, their families, and local communities to find positive, culturally appropriate ways to promote the inclusion of vegetables in diets. Through capacity building and enhancing food literacy, the program has allowed families to take action, like supplementing store-bought options with homegrown produce from their gardens, empowering a generational impact on health.

The program has yielded impressive results, demonstrating a decline in type 2 diabetes rates among the communities that fully participate. In addition to Kalkaringi School, she also spent two years teaching at Minyerri School in the Northern Territory. During those few weeks, attendance increased by 15% and her impact was so big, a community dog was named ‘Broccoli!’

FOOD KINDNESS AWARD

WINNER: Leanne Johnson, Kids Cooking and Caring Program at The Carevan Foundation in Albury Wodonga

PRESENTED BY JUDGES: Sarah Harris and Dannii Minogue

Leanne Johnson runs the The Kids Cooking and Caring program, which is integral to The Carevan Foundation, and aims to provide healthy, nutritious food to people in need within the community.

Created over 10 years ago, the Kids Cooking and Caring program, sees meals prepared, primarily by students from local high schools and supplemented by Carevan volunteers and Mercy Connect, a not-for-profit supporting people with disabilities.

Between 175-300 meals are cooked each week, depending on demand or catering needs of community members experiencing homelessness, financial hardship or who are disadvantaged. For children living in disadvantaged situations, they have added food security from the program with nutritious meals, and support from all volunteers on the program.

Through her work, Leanne is not only providing for the community, but she is also teaching students how to cook and care for others.

FOOD FOR MOVEMENT

WINNER: Principal Hayden Beaton and Wellbeing co-ordinator Lisa Hueston for Mooroopna Primary School in Victoria

PRESENTED BY JUDGES: Jessica Rowe and The Wiggles (Anthony Field and John Pearce)

Listed in the top 3% of disadvantaged schools in Australia, with over 76% of students having suffered or been exposed to significant trauma, Mooroopna Primary School in Victoria supports its students to become autonomous life-long learners who contribute positively to their community.

At the heart of the school’s Student Wellbeing Program is its Healthy Food Program, which began after approximately 80% of students were either not bringing food to school or what they were bringing was unhealthy. In 2019 the school introduced ‘The Park Cafe’, converting its sports shed into a dining room and upgrading the school canteen. A full-time onsite chef provides breakfast, morning and afternoon tea, and a cooked lunch daily, free of charge, for every student. For some, this program offers the only decent meal they may get that day.

The school has established strong links with local community organisations and businesses to help run the Healthy Food Program. The majority of the food is donated and volunteers help out in the kitchen on a daily basis.

Since implementing ‘The Park Café,’ staff have noticed significant changes in student behaviour, attendance and student’s ability to focus.

Physical and mental health is also a huge priority for the school. Of the 152 students in attendance, 45 have ADHD, 24 with autism and a number with learning difficulties. The school has a speech therapist, play therapist, school chaplain, community hub, health and wellbeing specialist teacher and a visiting paediatrician. The school also created a scooter track with traffic signs and a roundabout, scooters and helmets are provided to offer regular breaks when students are unsettled or needing to reset their learning. Knowing the huge benefits of team sports for children, staff promote opportunities to participate in community football and netball, with a number of students now playing as part of a club for the first time.

The school’s ethos of ‘Every child, in every community deserves a fair go’ is evident.

COMMUNITY OR SCHOOL FOOD CHAMPION

WINNER: Principal Michael Patrick and teachers Miss Jessica Lulu and Miss Gina Harcourt for John Pujajangka-Piyirin Catholic School of the Mulan Aboriginal Community, Western Australia

PRESENTED BY JUDGE: Mr Luke

The John Pujajangka-Piyirin Catholic School offers an outstanding cooking program where students are given the opportunity to prepare meals each week, utilising ingredients and produce from their kitchen garden, with the support and encouragement of staff. A portion of these meals are also delivered to community Elders each week, factoring cultural considerations at each state of meal preparation to ensure they meet the needs of the community.

The school also holds celebrations with the whole community where meals are cooked for students and their families. For their most recent NAIDOC Week celebration, students helped prepare kangaroo tails, damper, coleslaw and potato salad.

All teaching staff and the admin actively participate and take on roles to help encourage and support the students in cooking and preparing the meals. Students at the school not only learn skills that will last a lifetime, but they are also using food they have grown and cooked to care for their whole community.

Being in a very remote school in Western Australia, resources and preparation is crucial, with staff working to prepare and plan out cooking meals and activities weeks, if not months, in advance.

 FOOD ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR

WINNER: James McLennan, Co-founder and CEO of Farm My School and Founder of Grassroots Sustainability in Victoria

PRESENTED BY JUDGES: Boo Seeka

James has focused his career on food systems education. His business Grassroots Sustainability focuses on the whole food cycle and bringing it back to the food we eat and the importance of eating local, seasonal, spray free, nutrient dense food.

Years of James’ determination, passion and experience in the sustainability sector led him to create Farm My School with co-founder Ben Shaw. The groundbreaking model of food education transforms unused land within schools into regenerative market gardens that feed, educate and bring the community together.

Through connecting farmers with schools, and partnering with local businesses, the program aims to provide healthy, organic produce to school families, the canteen and local residents, whilst also creating thriving neighbourhood hubs where learning, sharing, and relationships are at its core.

The Farm My Food pilot school on the Bellarine Peninsula now boasts a fully operational 1.5 acre market garden, feeding nutrient dense food directly to the school and local community in the form of veggie boxes. The model is working on providing the school canteen with an array of fresh produce from the farm.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

WINNER: Stephanie Alexander for The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

The Awards also recognised Stephanie Alexander for her amazing work in establishing The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, now celebrating its 20th year.

Over a million children, their families and broader communities have benefitted over the past 20 years from the Kitchen Garden Program, which launched in 2004 and operates in more than 1,000 primary and secondary schools, early childhood services and community settings.

60% of schools are in communities with socio-education disadvantages and over 50% of members are in remote or regional locations. The foundation provides the inspiration, information and professional development and support for educators to deliver pleasurable food education to children and young people in Australia.

To help ensure more children can continue to benefit from food education, Stephanie has also launched the Food Education Drive (FED) – a national fundraising campaign to generate much needed support and awareness about the critical need to educate young Australians about where their food comes from and how to live healthy, resilient and happy lives.

AWARD PARTNERS:

Royal Caribbean International is the major partner and host venue for the awards, and has also donated a cruise holiday for each winner x 2 across each category.

Kathryn Lock, Senior Marketing Director at Royal Caribbean AUNZ says, “We are delighted to be the headline partner for Jamie Oliver’s Food Hero Awards, hosting the event onboard Ovation of the Seas in Sydney. It has been humbling to be a part of something that recognises the incredible work happening in our communities by Australian food educators, community groups and business leaders who go above and beyond to support Aussie kids, all the while celebrating the ongoing partnership of our two brands and the shared focus on quality food experiences that bring families together. This event kicks off even more families joining us onboard this summer to enjoy fresh Italian dishes, alongside treasured family moments at Jamie’s Italian on our Quantum class ships.”

 Wonde is the technology partner and is awarding all winners a $10,000 prize to support their continued growth.

Peter Dabrowa, Wonde, CEO and Co-Founder says, “Wonde is incredibly proud to support the Jamie Oliver Food Hero Awards and celebrate the inspiring winners in each category. These awards honour individuals, teams, and organisations who go above and beyond to create lasting change in students’ lives and strengthen their communities.” 

“By contributing a $10,000 prize to each winner, we aim to fuel the growth of their initiatives—helping students deepen their knowledge and love of food, expand community outreach, and foster connections to culture and healthy lifestyles. We look forward to witnessing the positive impact these remarkable winners will continue to make for years to come.”

Every winner will also receive an amazing bundle of brilliant cookware and equipment from Tefal.

All winners are listed over on the Jamie Oliver website here for more information – www.jamieoliver.com/foodheroawards