Ready? Steady?

Want to get involved in 2025? Our Awards have been helping to draw attention to the great works being done in street food since 2009, and things have gone crazy in Britain, Europe and the USA. So, if you’re a trader, and fancy coming to compete with the best, make sure to apply now. If you run street food events, how about running your country’s own national Awards this summer — with the official national logo from the European Street Food Awards and one guaranteed place (maybe two) at the European Street Food Award finals in Germany this October for your winners? Get stuck in – get involved with the street food revolution.

WHY HOST A NATIONAL AWARD?

You’ll get press attention from all round the world. We can talk about getting sponsors on board. Plus our team of writers will publish smart, witty stories about you and your finalists on www.europeanstreetfood.com and all our social channels. PLUS you’ll have editorial from all the other competing countries to share on Facebook and instagram – engaging everyone with this exciting new competition. The ESFA gives your national media a story, and a story that they can follow all the way to the European finals in Germany. It allows people to vote – people love to be asked for their opinion. Involvement means that you’re a street food kingpin in your own country because you’ve been chosen to find your national champion. You will be able to attract newer and better traders – from further away – when you start shouting about the your involvement with European Street Food Awards on social media.

WHAT WILL HOSTING INVOLVE?

Your national Awards can be a new, standalone event, or an addition to an existing event. They can be across one, two or three days. At the outset you should put out a nationwide call for applications from traders, and choose the very best (minimum 8) to compete.

You will set up a Facebook event page for the awards, and we’ll be cohosts. You’ll be issued with the official logos, in different formats, for your national Awards and the European Street Food Awards. You’ll use the official logo in the headers of your Facebook and Instagram feed.

You will provide a full list of your finalists with some text on each one plus pictures. We will write about them, and share their stories on social media. We will circulate the details to all the other competing countries, and get an exciting chat going on all over Europe about what’s going on where.

Post all you like using the hashtag #eurosfa.

Recruit a panel of industry experts/food critics/influencers/Michelin starred chefs etc, and allow them to come along to the event, try everything, and choose a winner using our standardized ESFA marking criteria:
Taste of the food – marked out of 60
Appearance of the trader’s van/truck/trailer – marked out of 20
Innovation/invention of the whole – marked out of 20

You can also allow the public to vote on their favourite and choose a SECOND winner. You can EITHER give people a paper vote as they come into the event, and get all the traders to make their own crazy ballot boxes where people can vote. OR you can run the vote online. It’s sexier, but a paper vote is easier, and you don’t need a smart phone – everyone can get involved….

The judges’ choice will automatically be given a place at the finals of the European Street Food Awards. The public vote isn’t guaranteed a place, but may be chosen as one of the final’s wild cards (depending on space).

WHAT WILL HOSTING COST?

Finalists will need to bring their own kitchen/cooking facility to the European finals, where they will cook for the crowds (who will pay for their food at the freewheeling street food extravaganza). We will only charge finalists a small pitch fee. There is also a licence fee payable by national organisers, but that varies according to geography and length of involvement.

We would like organisers to offer your winner a prize to cover costs of the travel to the finals and accommodation. This money is ONLY given for their travel/accommodation to the finals once it has all been booked. Then there’s the money to print your voting coupons (if you’re running a public vote), and two banners for on-site branding for your sponsors and/or the ESFA. In return you could make money from increased ticket sales, with free PR from your involvement in a super sexy new European competition and a guaranteed place in heaven. Win win win.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Let us know if you’re interested.

We’ll vet your application. Fingers crossed!