After a 3-year absence The Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year competition is back for the 2024 National Fish & Chip Awards.

The Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year award was originally conceived in 1995, by Kelvin Lee and Briar Wilkinson in memory of their late father Malcolm Lee, who had been associated with Fish Frying for over sixty years.

Having started his career as a potato boy in a fish and chip shop age 14, Malcolm Lee always believed that the future of the fish & chip trade, depended on young people and encouraging young people to recognise Fish & Chips as a worthwhile profession, not just a job, would also encourage young people through the door as customers.

One of the goals of the competition has always been to create a medium through which fish frying, is demonstrated to be a worthwhile career for young people to enter, and over the years the contribution of previous winners has certainly helped to achieve that gaol.

The judges are not necessarily looking for the very best shop, instead they look for that special quality that says, “This young person will use their success to achieve great things for the industry”. Of course, in rare cases, the winner might have already created one of the best shops in the Country, but usually they are simply working in one, or possibly on their way to creating their own, by breathing new life into an old shop.

Drywite Ltd are grateful to chief judge Mark Drummond and NFFF for organising the 2024 National Fish & Chip Awards, and we look forward to seeing who lifts the Malcolm Lee Trophy and is crowned Drywite Young Fish Frier of the Year 2024.