Tommy Banks

■ Prize: A Made in Oldstead food box delivered to the winner’s door.

■ Tommy Banks was awarded his first Michelin Star aged just 24 for the Black Swan at

Oldstead which was named Best Restaurant in the World by Tripadvisor. It was also awarded the first Michelin Green Star in the 2021 guide. His second restaurant, Roots in York, received a Michelin Star in the same guide.

Through the first lockdown Tommy Banks and his team cooked and delivered nutritious meals and snacks to staff at York Hospital.

“Staff on the Covid ward work 14-hour shifts and there is only a microwave in the staff room and so we wanted to provide them with nutritious microwavable meals such as pasta bakes, lasagne and shepherd’s pie,” says Tommy, who personally delivered many of the meals.

His brother James’s wife is a district nurse working with some of the most vulnerable people in the community and so he knows first hand the amazing job that care workers do.

“It’s an absolute privilege to be involved in

The Yorkshire Post awards for our key workers. This year has been more difficult than we could have ever imagined for everybody, and it’s hugely important to me that we continue to celebrate all these wonderful people and their incredible work on the front line every single day.

“Hospitality does not stop at the front door for us, and after the closure of our restaurants back in March, we quickly adapted and prepared over a thousand meals for our NHS and key workers within our York community.

“Since then, I have had the pleasure of competing in the Christmas Great British Menu alongside other veteran chefs, and the festive banquet food boxes reached the homes of many key workers across the UK.

“Our NHS and key worker heroes provide hope that we will soon be able to return to normality, and it’s for this reason that their efforts should be recognised too.”

Our NHS and key worker heroes provide hope that we will soon be able to return to normality and it’s for this reason that their efforts should be recognised too.