Seven winners receive catering's Booker Prize

A commis chef aged 17 from the Raemoir House hotel in Banchory near Aberdeen was named Best Young Chef at the Booker Prize for Excellence 2001 awards ceremony held at the London Hilton hotel last month.

Alongside two other finalists - Lucy Hyder, from Cheltenham's Bacchanalian restaurant, and Steven Baker, who recently moved from the Swan at Ironbridge to Jersey - Scott Stephen took part in a tense cook-off overseen by Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, chef-patron of London's Pétrus.

"Of all the Booker Prize for Excellence awards, this is perhaps the most pleasurable to be able to give, encouraging, as it does, budding young talent within Britain's rapidly developing catering industry," said Booker's trading director, Shaun Birrell. "We wish Scott every success in a career that we have no doubt will be an outstanding one."

Stephen received a trophy, a cash prize of £1,000 and the opportunity to spend a week working with Ramsay at his London restaurant.

Winner of the Best Restaurant category was the London Street Brasserie in Reading, Berkshire, which is owned and run by former musician Paul Clerehugh; while the prize for Best Young Catering Business went to Morton's Fork in Chichester, West Sussex, a three-year-old company owned by Tim Morton.

Best Specialist Caterer went to the Coach House Coffee Shop, by Loch Lomond, Argyllshire, which is run by Gary and Rowena Groves; and Best Guesthouse was Carlisle's Bessietown Farmhouse, owned by Jack and Margaret Sisson.

In the Best Pub Caterer category, David Morgan and Catherine Stevens of the Golden Heart Inn in Birdlip, Gloucestershire, triumphed; and Eric and Marion Brown of the Roman Camp hotel in Callander, Perthshire, won Best Hotel.

The Booker Prize for Excellence, now in its ninth year, awarded 13 retail and catering businesses. Each category winner, recognised for "demonstrating exceptional business management skills, innovation, customer service and overall professionalism", received a cheque for £1,000. However, having won the Best Hotel award, Eric and Marion Brown of the Roman Camp hotel were also honoured with a cheque for £5,000 and the overall Best Caterer accolade.

All seven catering winners, the six successful retailers and their partners will be travelling to New York in June, where they will undertake a five-day personal study tour courtesy of Booker.