The global award for gastronomy professionals who make a positive impact on the world beyond the kitchen is now open to all professionals in the wider gastronomy world.
The award, which comes with a €100,000 cash prize for winners, was originally launched by culinary school the Basque Culinary Center (BCC) and the Basque government to turn the spotlight on gastronomy as a tool for social change.
Now, having celebrated its tenth anniversary at a gala event in San Sebastián last year, the highly regarded prize will consider a broader group of nominations. From this year any one working in gastronomy and foodservice will be eligible to enter or be nominated.
A natural evolution
At the time of the inception of the prize in 2016, the international board consisted of chefs and, given the role of the BCC in training chefs, creating an award for chefs specifically was a natural evolution.
Director general at the BCC, Joxe Mari Aizega recalls an obvious social dimension going on in kitchens at the time that was evident in different initiatives. “We wanted to promote that dimension of gastronomy,” he says.
In the years since launch, the organization started to come across many projects that were very transformative but didn’t strictly fit the criteria; an increasing number of projects were launched and promoted by people who were in gastronomy but not working as chefs.
“So we started to reconsider a few years ago and asked the question, ‘if we think about gastronomy as a tool of social development, should projects only come from the chef perspective?’,” he explains. “The principal message here is that gastronomy has the power to transform and improve.”
Previous winners, from countries including Colombia, Australia and Spain, have made a transformative impact on areas including health, education, sustainability, social integration and migration. At a time where arguably there is a bigger need for these, it is heartening to see a steady pipeline of new initiatives. “Every year we see hundreds of projects from gastronomic professionals who taking social action and they are only a small part of the bigger picture – not everybody knows about the prize,” says Aizega.
The prize started inching away from the focus on chefs last year with the win of food start-up incubator La Cocina in 2025. “Leticia Landa who won the prize does have a culinary background, but she was awarded the prize in recognition of her managing La Cocina, not cooking,” acknowledges Aizega.
Gathering in Brazil
For the 2026 edition, the jury has started to study this year’s nominations, which are already reflecting the change in criteria and submissions have arrived from across the world.
The BCC international council, meanwhile will meet for its annual Gastronomy Summit in Curitiba, in the state of Paraná from 6 to 10 of November where they will be hosted by Brazilian chef and BCWP jury member Manu Buffara.
The meeting will bring together leading figures from gastronomy to discuss the role of food in addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow. The group, including Joan Roca, Michel Bras, Dominique Crenn, Pia León will meet with local chefs to exchange ideas on how gastronomy can help shape a better future through a 360-degree approach encompassing the entire food value chain.
The event will also see the BCWP jury meet to choose and announce the winner of the tenth prize.
Tina Nielsen
