One thing defined all our awards finalists at York Guildhall – a passion for doing things their way and the right way. It's that which underpins their success in exploiting niche markets and although it's simply stated it's not so easily achieved.
To this you could add other characteristics such as ingenuity, stickability and sheer hard work. These certainly apply to farmer Jenny Whiteley, self-described as "well beyond pensionable age" who, in addition to tending the family farm finds the time to bake the unique pork pies that won our Best Yorkshire Pies category.

There's a perfect symmetry about Jenny's operation. Her Berkshires, Gloucester Old Spot and Large White crosses are bred on the farm, are fed on what is grown there and are then fed into the pies.
Jenny branched out into these handmade products ten years ago. She decided not to use any preservatives or cured meat, and making them, along with her sausages and game pies, has remained a one-woman operation in the kitchen.

In Gargrave, Linda Hartell found an ancient and tricky farmhouse skill and revived it. She took over The Dalesman – which anyone heading through for the Lakes will know as a café tea room where walkers and cyclists like to rest their limbs – and then spread her customer net. It now includes ladies who lunch and the sort of people who need a tempting delicacy or two on the table to ease the flow of gossip.
Exquisite fruit jellies are one of them, and at our awards these lifted the title of Best Yorkshire Handmade Product. Once a traditional standby, these jellies (which are nothing like the sort of thing found at children's parties) are now a rural rarity.

The knack of making them in the traditional farmhouse kitchen seems to have been lost. It's very time-consuming, requires critical timing and scrupulous care when putting the jellies into jars. Linda, who used to teach food technology and health education, seems to take these requirements in her stride and she adds a modern twist to the flavours with intriguing combinations such as chilli and apple jelly.

Linda only makes the jellies when the fruits are in season and either forages for them in the wild or has them grown locally. The precise location is then written on the label of each jar. It's the ultimate in provenance information.

Tineke Bentley came to Yorkshire from Holland to be an au pair. She got to know one of the family's relatives, William Bentley, who had been running his salad business since 1956. The couple were married in 1972 and, when William died 20 years later, Tineka kept things going until her children were old enough to lend a hand. Her eldest son, Jan, is now in charge.

Their product was that great egg sarnie standby, salad cress – most of which goes to Morrisons and Asda. But they felt that relying on two customers left them vulnerable. Innovation was called for, and trips to Australia revealed that alfalfa and sprouting seeds were all the rage over there.

In Oz, they enjoy the way these things add a layer of texture to a meal, and deliver health benefits which boost your immune system, improve digestion, even help to prevent and fight some diseases. All in one bite.

So the Bentleys picked up on this Antipodean enthusiasm and launched a new brand called And Sow On to produce alfalfa and a new range of sprouting seeds, beans and leaves. Their sprouting radish with leeks is also about to hit the market. It received the thumbs-up from our judges, who gave the company the Best Yorkshire Grower award.

All this this success has been achieved in circumstance which are not exactly ideal. Peter Charlton, editor of the Yorkshire Post who introduced the awards evening, said that fresh food price inflation has hit over six per cent this year and shoppers were watching the pennies. All sorts of things conspired to make things difficult for producers – most of them fuelled by the soaring price of crude oil – and a poor summer had not helped.

He believed all the finalists deserved to be celebrated for reaching this stage of a fierce competition where the number of entries received in most categories was a record.

He encouraged Yorkshire small food producers to try and look beyond local markets and to take a leaf out of Tim Wilson's book. Tim Wilson, who runs Ginger Pig at Levisham on the North York Moors, sells most of his produce in London.

"Of course many of our food producers are smaller than Tim," said Peter Charlton. "They don't always have the time or the opportunity to blow their own trumpet. That's why we devised these awards to give them their moment in the spotlight. We hope the attention they deservedly receive will help them to reach their markets.

"For the Yorkshire Post, I think the awards help fulfil what I think is our obligation to stand up for Yorkshire individuality and the quality of life. It's a commitment that's not just for one night, only once a year. We have also campaigned steadily for Yorkshire food producers and we fight their corner at every opportunity.

"This year – through our Save Our Uplands campaign – we are supporting Prince Charles' scheme to revive the fortunes of farmers on the North York Moors.

"This has brought in big business and the major supermarket players to help devise a North York Moors brand. It's hoped it will to usher in a changed farming culture where enterprise and marketing play a bigger role.

"If continuity of supply to supermarkets can be guaranteed, then farmers will feel more confident about their ability to influence what happens in their business."

This was the third year that we had run the awards, and the second time that Tom and Tricia Wallis have lifted the Dairy category trophy. Theirs is another story of pragmatic innovation – in this case a successful business grew out of seeking to resolve a serious challenge facing the family.

Tom left school at 15 to be a builder and only started experimenting with milk from their small herd of
goats when their baby granddaughter was discovered to be allergic
to cow's milk.

Within a decade, their Lowna Dairy has progressed from being a single-bucket operation to a favourite of the Duchess of Cornwall
who ordered some of Lowna's ice cream for Prince Charles at Highgrove.

Joyce Ashbridge and her son Charles don't live in the most sheltered spot in the world – Mount Grace Farm at Cold Kirby is 150 feet above sea level. But here they set up Taste Tradition to cater for a gap in the market for top-quality, rare breed pork, to which was subsequently added beef and lamb for wholesale.

It was their Porchettas – milk-fed suckling pigs which are slaughtered at 13-14 weeks then boned by their in-house butcher, stuffed and rolled – which caught the attention of our judges. They awarded Taste Tradition the title of Best Yorkshire Meat producer.

Great Heck Brewery, who only began brewing in May and selling in June, walked off with the Best Yorkshire Local Brew category. Here Denzil Vallence and Jason Hall, the head brewer, are assisted by their partners Lisa and Julie.

The aim of the awards is to win over hearts and mouths to the idea of buying Yorkshire, and this was the first time they had been run in association with the 10-day York Festival of Food and Drink. Peter Charlton paid tribute to the festival's director, the indefatigable Michael Hjort, who had also chaired the judging panel and cooked the meal for the Guildhall event.

In the wider world, almost every day we seem to get gloomy news about the unsustainability of the world's system of food production – soil degradation, food contamination, the issue of obesity and so on. We think this is even more reason why we should continue to try and feed the growing appetite for buying local. It gives you peace of mind because of traceability from pasture to plate. And it tastes better.

The York Festival of Food and Drink continues today and tomorrow. For the programme of events see www.yorkfoodfestival.co.uk