The annual Countryside Alliance Awards are now open to public nomination, and Ilkley's MP Robbie Moore urging the local community to get nominating.
The Countryside Alliance Awards, nicknamed the ‘Rural Oscars’, were borne of a need to support and promote rural communities.
The awards celebrate people going the extra mile to ensure that rural Britain’s food and farming industry, small businesses, traditional skills, forward-thinking enterprises and, most of all, its people, can flourish.
Before becoming the town’s MP, Robbie Moore spent his life in agriculture, growing up on his family’s farm in Lincolnshire before training to be a chartered rural surveyor.
Commenting on the awards, he said: “I am incredibly proud to represent farmers and growers right across Keighley, Ilkley, Silsden and the Worth Valley. Our farmers work tirelessly, going above & beyond to grow & produce the very best food for us all to enjoy.
"The Countryside Alliance Awards are a fantastic way to promote the local businessmen and women who are working hard to keep rural Britain thriving. There are so many community heroes and businesses worthy of national recognition, so please get involved and nominate today.”
The Awards run across the following categories:
Local Food Award
Village shop/ Post Office Award
Rural Enterprise Award
Butcher Award
Rural Pub Award
Nominations are open online at www.countryside-alliance.org/awards until 17 November. Judging will then take place and national winners will be announced at the House of Lords in spring 2025.