National Kitchen Garden Awards

To recognise the tremendous creativity of kitchen gardens in schools and early childhood services of all sizes, we are excited to reveal the inaugural National Kitchen Garden Awards! 

From before-school breakfast clubs, student-led compost initiatives or experimenting in your school kitchen with healthy, garden grown veg, the National Kitchen Garden Awards celebrates the inventive, community-driven ways educators and young Australians are using their kitchen garden to learn about health, wellbeing and sustainability.

These awards are open to all primary schools, secondary schools and early childhood services across Australia, and you do not need to be a member of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program to apply.

The prize pack!

Over $5000 in value will be gifted to each of the nine category winners. Have a look at what's on offer:

• $1000 in cash to advance kitchen and garden infrastructure.
• A kitchen garden product pack valued at over $3500:
  • An enrich360 Eco5 dehydrator, including accessories and lesson plan bundle.
  • Natural, organic garden solutions from Seasol.
  • Australian-made, healthy cookware from Solidteknics.
  • Tree vouchers from Fleming's Nurseries.
  • Signed copies of Stephanie Alexander’s beloved cookbooks ‘The Cooks Companion’ and ‘Fresh’.
• A two-year membership to the globally recognised Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program. Already a member? Enjoy a two-year extension of your membership instead. Membership includes:
  • Professional development opportunities in-person and online.
  • 1000+ recipes, lesson plans and activities on our online resource library and our community hub The Shared Table.
  • A printed resources package with all the workbooks and inspiration to get started.
  • Five days a week Support Team offering personalised advice.

The celebrity judges!

Stephanie Alexander, Thanh 'Fruit Nerd' Truong and Alice Zaslavsky will be eagerly reviewing the finalists of each category and making their selection of the most creative, resourceful and green-thumbed stories out there. Winners will be announced at a special Kitchen Garden Month celebration hosted by Stephanie Alexander at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday 11 September.

Whether you're nurturing a tiny garden on wheels, or experimenting in your school kitchen, we're celebrating all levels of ingenuity and passion. We're not just after the biggest yields or the most polished dishes ­– show us your boldest attempts, your most daring experiments and your cleverest upcycles. Let your creativity bloom and your flavours shine. We can’t wait to read your stories!

How to apply

Entries are open to early childhood, primary schools and secondary schools who either run a Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program or dream of joining the program to support their existing kitchen or garden learning. Enter one or all of the award categories!

Entry is simple! Answer a question about your project in 200 words or less to go into the running. Images are optional.

Learn about each category below, then click through to enter. Good luck! 

Applications close at 5 pm on Monday 12 August.  

Level up your Veg presented by AUSVEG
We love to hear stories of how kitchen and garden lessons are encouraging students to try new vegetables, often for the very first time! Tell us the changes you’re seeing in your students when they get to be hands-on in growing, harvesting, preparing and sharing nature’s greatest goodies. Enter now.

Sustainable Solutions presented by Costa
Share some of the ways you’ve learned about sustainable practices in the kitchen or garden. Have you initiated composting, recycling, reusing, or reducing? Have you minimised food waste with pro pickling and preserving? Perhaps you’ve explored climate change and actioned preventive practices in the garden? Enter now.

Recipes of the Imagination presented by General Mills
Get your creative juices flowing! We’d love to see original recipe creations from educators and their class. What have you been cooking up in the kitchen with fresh, seasonal and delicious produce? Enter now.

Wellbeing Champions presented by Kellogg’s
We know getting hands-on in the kitchen and garden is great for our mental health, fitness and wellbeing. Show us how your activities have improved the wellbeing of your students. Does your garden offer a space to reflect, connect, or simply relax? Do you gather around a table to share healthy, delicious meals and conversation? Enter now.

Beyond the School Gate presented by Novo Nordisk as part of the Cities for Better Health Program
Show us some great examples of how your school’s kitchen or garden has had ripple effects beyond your school gates. Have your students taken your excess produce to a local market? Have you partnered with a local organisation and brought in wonderful community volunteers to help your garden flourish? Enter now.

Showcasing STEM presented by Seasol 
How are you using green space or kitchen activities to explore science, technology, engineering and maths? Do you measure up garden beds, weigh seasonal produce or experiment with fermenting and rising agents? Enter now.

Everyone’s Welcome presented by ABL (Arnold Bloch Leibler)
Tell us how you celebrate togetherness, understanding, all cultures and abilities. Have recipes and ingredients been adapted to reflect the traditions and culture of your students? Have garden designs been modified to serve sensory needs and all abilities? Enter now.

The Art of Kitchen Gardening presented by MSP Compass
The garden and fresh ingredients often inspire storytelling and artistic pursuits. Show us how you’re encouraging creativity with your class through the kitchen garden. Enter now.

First Nations Foods presented by Murnong Mummas
We’d love to see how schools are incorporating First Nations Food into their learnings. Do you have a bush tucker garden? Do you plan according to your local Indigenous season? Have you used Australian native ingredients to make delicious dishes? Enter now.

With thanks to our award category partners

With thanks to our prize partners

_{^{Credit: Photo of Thanh Truong by Mark Roper.}}