Celebrating sustainability and creativity: National kitchen garden awards return for 2025

Educators and young learners across Australia are being invited to showcase their ingenuity, sustainability and love for fresh produce as the National Kitchen Garden Awards return for their second year.

The awards, open to all early childhood services, primary and secondary schools nationwide, celebrate the inventive and community-led ways in which children and educators are integrating kitchen gardens into everyday learning. Whether it’s a student-led compost initiative, a thriving before-school breakfast club, or creative cooking with garden-grown produce, the awards shine a spotlight on projects that promote health, wellbeing and environmental awareness.

Importantly, participation in the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program is not a requirement to enter.

Each of the nine category winners will receive a prize package valued at over $4,000, including:

• $1,000 grant to support kitchen or garden infrastructure
• A curated product pack featuring:

WaterUps wicking beds and planters

Natural gardening solutions from Seasol

A voucher from Fleming’s Nurseries

A 12-month subscription to ABC Organic Gardener magazine

Mount Zero Olives’ premium olive oil

Native cooking ingredients from Indigiearth

A custom timber watering can trophy by Tiger Corp

Signed copies of Fresh and A Cook’s Life by Stephanie Alexander

A copy of Alice Zaslavsky’s Salad for Days

In addition, each winner will receive a two-year membership to the globally recognised Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, offering:

• Access to over 1,000 lesson plans, activities and recipes via the Shared Table online hub
• In-person and online professional development
• A printed resource kit to help bring kitchen gardens to life
• Five-day-a-week personalised support from the program’s expert team

The award finalists will be reviewed by a panel of beloved culinary and garden experts including Stephanie Alexander, Clarence Slockee, Thanh ‘Fruit Nerd’ Truong and Alice Zaslavsky.

Winners will be revealed at a special celebration on Tuesday 16 September at Kilkenny Primary School in Adelaide, as part of Kitchen Garden Month festivities.

Entry Details

Early childhood services, schools already running kitchen garden programs, and those aspiring to, are all encouraged to enter. Each submission involves answering a short question (200 words or less) describing a project or initiative. Images are optional but strongly encouraged.

Applications close at 9:30am on Friday 15 August 2025.

Whether cultivating a garden on wheels or pioneering innovative sustainability solutions, the National Kitchen Garden Awards honour the full spectrum of creativity. Judges are not only looking for abundant harvests or polished recipes, but also bold experiments, clever problem-solving and deep community engagement.

Visit the 2024 winners here.

For more information and to submit an entry, visit the National Kitchen Garden Awards page.