The winners have been announced across several awards that were up for grabs at the Listowel Food Fair 2026 in Co. Kerry.

The fair began on Thursday (November 5) and concludes today (Monday, November 9).

Among the awards that were handed out were the Best Emerging Artisan Food Awards.

These awards were in association with Kerry Local Enterprise Office and were announced last night (Sunday, November 8).

The competition was adjudicated by John O’ Connor, Prestige Foods, Helen McCarthy, SuperValu Ireland, and David Mulvihill, chef at the Listowel Arms Hotel.

The overall winner of the 2026 Best Emerging Artisan Food Award was Mór Taste, Wexford, owned by Felix Oster, with its cherry coulis product.

The judges described Mór Taste Cherry Coulis as "quite spectacular", praising its colour, shine and flavour.

There were six categories in the competition this year, with an overall winner and the winners in each category as follows:

Overall winner: Mór Taste (Felix Oster) for Mór Taste Cherry Coulis;
Savoury products: Rustic Boowa (Zaneta Labuz-Czerwien) for Savoury Bowa;
Baked goods: Bread and Beyond (Aoife Phillips) for The Kerry Melt;
Confectionary: Rustic Boowa (Zaneta Labuz-Czerwien) for Granola;
Dairy: Bainne Blásta (Aodán Behan) for Vanilla Milk;
Condiments: Mór Taste (Felix Oster) for Mór Taste Cherry Coulis;
Free Form: Rustic Boowa (Zaneta Labuz-Czerwien) for Vegan Scone.

Food Heroes Award

Meanwhile, the Listowel Food Fair also saw the announcement of two winners of the Local Food Heroes Award.

These were Jenny Flaherty of Glenview Farm, Moyvane, and Aodán Behan, of Behan's Bainne Blasta, Listowel.

These awards are in association with Listowel Food Hub.

Glenview Farm is an independent family dairy business founded by Jenny Flaherty. It specialises in pasteurised, non-homogenised whole milk.

Jenny Flaherty's move into dairy entrepreneurship followed 15 years working in food safety.

In 2026, Glenview Farm achieved significant recognition, with Flaherty receiving the Connect Kerry Women in Business Awards' One to Watch Award. The farm's whole milk also earned Silver at the 2026 Blas na hÉireann Irish Food Awards.

Aodán Behan of Behan's Bainne Blasta, meanwhile, is an entrepreneur and dairy farmer from Listowel, and his business is a direct-to-consumer farm milk enterprise.

Behan launched this dairy venture in late 2025 alongside his family (Aidan and Darragh Behan) on their family farm near Listowel.

The farm runs a herd of pedigree Holstein Friesian cows, processing and slowly pasteurizing non-homogenized whole milk on-site.

The enterprise sells fresh and flavoured milk in 1L glass bottles via automated vending machines.

Lifetime achievement

TV chef, food author and co-founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School Rory O’Connell was the recipient of the ‘2026 Listowel Food Fair Lifetime Achievement Award’.

Listowel Food Fair Committee Member Mairead Moriarty congratulated Rory O’Connell for his achievements for Ireland and Irish food, saying: "Rory O’Connell trained with Myrtle Allen at Ballymaloe House, where he served as the Head Chef of Ballymaloe for ten years. It was at Ballymaloe House where Rory’s execution of 'farm to table cuisine' earned him the prestigious accolade of Ireland’s Chef of the Year, on two occasions.

"Beyond the kitchen, Rory O’Connell has been a vital voice of sustainable agriculture and the establishment of regional Irish food systems," Moriarty added.

Young chef of the year

The Listowel Food Fair Young Chef of the Year Competition was won by Rosey Griffin from Intermediate School Killorglin.

She received a full set of professional chef's knives in recognition of her achievement.

Six young students from Mercy Secondary School Mounthawk, Tralee, and Intermediate School Killorglin, took part in the competition, showcasing their culinary skills, creativity and confidence.

With three students from Second Year and three from Transition Year competing, the standard was exceptionally high, organisers said.

The competition was attended by former TD and minister of state and the Department of Agriculture Jimmy Deenihan, who (representing the Listowel Food Fair) said: "On behalf of the Listowel Food Fair I would like to congratulate Rosey Griffin on her fantastic achievement, but equally deserving of recognition are the other five finalists, whose enthusiasm, dedication and impressive culinary creations made the competition such a memorable occasion.

"Both schools, their teachers and families can be immensely proud of these talented young people, who have shown that the future of Kerry's food and hospitality industry is in very good hands," Deenihan said.

Listowel Food Fair

The Listowel Food Fair was originally launched in 1995 as a specialized food fair.

Its organisers said that the event "became a platform for many food producers to highlight their artisan food products such as cheeses, baked goods, beverages and more".

Apart from the awards, this year's event will also feature a seminar on the high incidence rates of TB across north Co. Kerry and west Co. Limerick.

The seminar will take place at the Listowel Arms Hotel at 7:30p.m this evening.

The surge in TB cases has left local farming families devastated and has been described as "a critical emergency for regional agriculture".

The outbreaks have led to restrictions or total depopulation of local herds.

Farmers have reported losing large portions of their livelihoods in single test cycles, with instances of farms losing over 50 cattle at once.

The upcoming seminar will be attended by Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Niall Collins who will address the current important issues within the Irish farming and agricultural sectors.