After four months of eggcitement it's time to bring The Egg Award 2013 to a close, and with entries from all over the world it's been a privilege and a pleasure to have been involved in this eggcellent competition.
The success of the award this year means that next years will be bigger, better, with different categories and the inclusion of a Charity Recipe Book.
The organisers of The Egg Award would like to take this opportunity to thank the Judges for their hard work in determining the winner and runners-up, our sponsors for their generosity in donating the prizes, everyone that's been involved in Tweeting or sharing The Egg Award and of course our entrants, home cooks and professionals alike - for their imagination, effort and help in promoting fresh local eggs!
So without further ado here's the winner and runners-up of The Egg Award 2013 in reverse order.....
In Fourth Place and with a 'special mention'.....
Toronto food blogger Ann Allchin with her Duck Egg and Prosciutto Baskets. Ann will be sent the signed print by Ulrika von Sydow.
In Third Place.....
Artisan jewellery designer and food blogger Vivienne Aldred with her Twice Baked Wild Garlic Souffle.Vivienne will be receiving a set of Blackrock Ceramic Knives.
In Second Place.....
Scottish chef and Great British Menu contestant Tony Singh with his Dahl and Eggs
Tony will be receiving a Polyscience Smoke Gun from sousvidetools.com.
In First Place - and the Winner of the inaugural Egg Award.....
Two Michelin Star chef Dani Garcia from Spain and his Tempered Goose Egg Yolk with Goose Sobrasada, Crispy Whites and Truffles using organic eggs by Ganso Iberico.
Danny will receive the unique, hand-carved driftwood Egg Award Trophy and the print donated by Armadillo Central will be taking pride of place at Ganso Iberico.
Native Andalusian Dani Garcia of Calima restaurant in Malaga is a 2 Michelin Star chef who is also responsible for the various products developed at Ganso Iberico and a promoter of it in the Gastronomic World. The simplicity of his recipe along with his and Ganso Iberico's ethos mirroring exactly that of The Egg Awards made it a clear winner. Whilst the recipe is the creation of a Michelin starred chef, it's well within the capabilities of a home cook to follow.
This years Judges were.....
Rachel McCormack teaches the Catalan style of cooking In classes at Bea’s of Bloomsbury where Rachel tries to re-create the kind of meal that she has at her friends’ houses in Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia. She's also a panelist on The Kitchen Cabinet, a Radio 4 food panel show presented by Jay Rayner.
The Egg Award was pleased to welcome Masterchef 2012 contestant Alec Tomasso to the judging panel. He narrowly missed out on making it through to the next round and since then has gone from strength to strength with his own food blog, The Weeping Chef, working in 1 and 2 Michelin starred kitchens and cooking up a storm as chef in The Cheese Kitchen Bistro, Bedford.
The fourth judge invited to take part in The Egg Award 2013 is rising talent Jonny Marsh from Manchester. As a schoolboy Jonny spent every Saturday working in the kitchens of the sadly now defunct Manchester restaurant, Brasserie Blanc, despite being too young to be paid.
The final addition to The Egg Award 2013 judging panel needed little introduction as it's Edinburgh chef and BBC 1 Great British Menu contestant Mark Greenaway! He's chef patron of Restaurant Mark Greenaway, which is based on 69 North Castle Street, Edinburgh. The restaurant first opened in 2011 at its original location at No 12 Picardy place, where mark soon gained a superb reputation for its imaginative, creative and modern style of cooking.
The winner of The Egg Award 2013 will be presented with a unique trophy of a hand carved driftwood egg donated by ecoYoga.
At ecoYoga they run courses and retreats throughout the year and they invite you to find out more about these on the yoga page. When courses are not running you can stay with them on a self-catering holiday and enjoy the facilities of their wonderful Yoga studio in your own time, have a hot tub, sauna or enjoy a wild river hot bath. 
Those lovely people at Blackrock Ceramic Knives have donated a set of their outstandingly sharp knives!
Another addition to our list of prizes is this fine art print 'Two Steps Forward One Step Back' by Juliet Kepes (1919-1999) - painter, illustrator, sculptor and children’s book author, born in London in 1919. The print has been donated by Armadillo Central who publish original writing alongside fine art and photography.
The lovely people at sousvidetools.com have donated a PolyScience® Smoking Gun
They're the UK's leading supplier of sous vide and vacuum packing equipment. Based in the North West of England they are a family run business that distributes all over the UK, Ireland and Europe to aspirational chefs and foodies who enjoy cooking, who strive for consistency and accuracy whilst always looking to further refine their cooking skills. At sousvidetools.com their portfolio of products offers everything you would need for sous vide cooking commercially or domestically, from sous vide water baths, thermal circulators, vacuum sealers, vacuum packing machines and vacuum pouches.
The fourth addition to our prize list is another fine art print of 'Fruits and an Egg', signed by the artist Ulrika von Sydow. She's a Scandanavian artist mixing realistic portrayals with experimental art using mixed materials. 