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Vote now in the Time In Awards

Have your say and celebrate London’s lockdown champions

Written by
Time Out London editors
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Voting is now open for the Time In Awards. As London reopens, we want to celebrate the heroes of the long isolation, and the ones you think deserve some extra-special recognition for going above and beyond during the 2020 lockdown. We’re paying tribute to the people, places and initiatives that have kept this city going during the months of not going out.

We’ve compiled a list of nominees and now we are throwing it over to you to vote for the winners. Plus, you can add your own suggestions on the voting page. We’re giving away 13 awards in four areas: Food & Drink Heroes; Community Champions; Arts & Entertainment Saviours; and Homebound Stars.

Show them some love!

And the nominees are…

FOOD & DRINK HEROES 

Most inspiring chef

  • Ixta Belfrage – the foodie queen of Instagram
  • Oli Coles – the top chef feeding NHS staff
  • Jake Finn – the young Ritz veteran now cooking for everyone
  • Rosie MacKean – pasta classes for the Stephen Lawrence Trust
  • Ben Tish – the Norma kingpin doing non-stop tutorials
  • Steven Tozer – the restaurateur keeping hospitality staff in work

Special delivery award for doing whatever to keep us fed and watered

Most comforting lockdown food or drink item 

COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS

Ultimate neighbourhood champions

Top community kingpin

  • Dalston Superstore – The Virtual Superstore is a total hoot. Espresso Quarantini, anyone?
  • Jay’s Budgens – Brockley’s fave shop supporting food banks and local producers
  • Keep Pubs Pumping – merch and more to keep boozers in business
  • Lina Stores – the iconic deli raising thousands to feed Londoners
  • Nourished Communities – helping market traders across all of north London
  • Stroud Green Market – a home-delivery farmers’ market to help local businesses? Done! 
  • Oru Space – transformed into a drop-off spot for a local food bank. Profits from virtual classes are going to Goose Green Mutual Aid.

Best business pivot

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT SAVIOURS

Academy Award-winning virtual film clubs

The virtual club night we wish wasn’t virtual

  • Club Quarantine – the underground queer dance party that became a global sensation (thanks, Toronto!)
  • Queer House Party – a Zoom space for LGBTQ+ Londoners to come together and living-room-dance their hearts out every Friday
  • Slimelight – our weekly helping of trance and techno
  • Suga Rush – transferred its glorious pop night to Zoom to raise money for its IRL venue The Chateau

Most original online festival

  • BookBound 2020 – for quickly bringing authors and readers together to support independent bookshops 
  • Boulangerie Home Delivery – for giving a platform to talented drag artists in London and New York
  • Junction 2 – no actual motorway flyover this year, but an ace 3D experience
  • Nest Collective: Singing with Nightingales – Sam Lee in a wood in Suffolk with music from Pet Shop Boys, Johnny Flynn, Jessie Buckley and birdsong
  • Now Play This – for transporting an experimental gaming festival online (and a Q&A via Animal Crossing)

Best digital art experience 

The cultural initiative that made life worth living

HOMEBOUND STARS

Best DIY kit

Stuck-indoors celeb hero

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