BBC Food & Farming Awards - the results so far

The judges of the Food and Farming Awards have decided on their short lists in each of the nine categories. Dan Saladino, Producer of the Food and Farming Awards, writes about the nominations so far and what happens next.

Our twelve judges in the Food and Farming Awards 2012 BBC Food and Farming Awards 2012 , including Angela Hartnett, Valentine Warner and Charles Campion and Victoria Moore met recently to debate, taste and drink their way through thousands of nominations and decided on this year's finalists.

BBC listeners, viewers and online users had sent in nominations from all over the UK, covering nine different food categories, from Best Food Producer to Best Food Market and from Best Dinner Lady to Best Takeaway. The judging team spent weeks, reading, researching, exchanging ideas and opinion as to who should make it to the eventual line-up of 28 finalists.

It's been close. The stories they've been sent, in every category have been inspirational, from visionary farmers in Northern Ireland, to pioneering retail food shops in north Wales, from a workers' co-operative baking bread to supermarkets trying to rethink their supply chains to source ingredients more sustainably.

Ahead of revealing this year's finalists the judges wanted to publish shortlists featuring all of the nominees they took to the final stage of their decision making, nominees who had really impressed. You can now take a look at these shortlists for all nine categories. It's a fascinating summary of the people, businesses and organisations from which the eventual finalists will emerge.

Then, on BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme on Sunday 30 September, the identities of the 28 finalists selected by the judges will be revealed. Soon after that our judging team will take to the road and travel to meet every one of the food producers, drinks producer, takeaway cooks, public caterers, food markets and local retailers they've chosen as the "best of the best". We'll keep you updated with news from the visits on these pages, and on Facebook and Twitter.

The climax of all of this is the annual BBC Food & Farming Awards ceremony, held at the NEC in Birmingham on Wednesday November 28th. We'd love to see you there, and you're welcome to be in the audience to hear who the eventual award winners are. We'll be joined by Raymond Blanc, Paul Hollywood, Valentine Warner and Angela Hartnett. All you need to do is register for a ticket.

We'll be giving more Food Awards updates very soon - thanks for your interest in the Awards.