The Shisa Nyama Awards™ were founded in 2016 by marketing and public relations professional Michelle Lewis, also founder and owner of Durban-based public-relations agency Have Your Say.
The competition curator is Ingrid Shevlin, renowned journalist of more than 30 years’ experience and organiser of the 17-year-standing Café Society Awards.
The judging line-up consists of well-known restauranteurs, South African editors, and food critics: Andrew Draper; Buhle Mbonambi; Dennis Ngxongo; Lungi Nhlanhla; Meleney Cunniff and Sdu Gerasch.
The Shisa Nyama Awards™ started in Durban on July 2016. On September 25 the winner of the first round will be announced at a giant Shisa Nyama Festival™ hosted at People’s Park in Durban and proudly sponsored by Durban Tourism.
Other festival sponsors include East Coast Radio, Bluff Meat Supply and Supa Mama. In 2017 the Shisa Nyama Awards™ will move on to Johannesburg and Cape Town to crown the best in each city, following which a national final round of judging will commence, with the winner of SA’s best city shisa nyama announced at the second Shisa Nyama Festival™ on September 24, 2017.
Click here to see some of Durban’s best shisa nyama lounges.