Meet the jury: 2025 Eat Drink Design Awards

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The jury for the 2025 Eat Drink Design Awards has been announced. The Eat Drink Design Awards recognize excellence and innovation in the design of food and beverage venues across Australia and New Zealand, from high-end restaurants to hole-in-the-wall cafes and luxury hotels.

The awards will be judged across six primary categories of Best Restaurant Design, Best Café Design, Best Bar Design, Best Hotel Design, Best Retail Design and Best Identity Design.

Each year, a landmark venue of more than 10 years standing will be inducted into the Eat Drink Design Awards Hall of Fame. Past inductees have included iconic venues such as Berowra Waters Inn by Glenn Murcutt, Icebergs in Sydney's Bondi by Lazzarini Pickering, and Melbourne hospitality institutions Cumulus Inc by Pascale Gomes-McNabb and Cookie by Phillip Schemnitz.

The 2025 jury comprises venerable industry leaders from hospitality and design sectors: Jean-Paul Ghougassian (co-director of Ritz and Ghougassian), Callan Boys (national restaurant editor, Good Food), Simone McEwan (director, Nice Projects), Jason M. Jones (restaurateur of Entrecote and Hopper Joint) and Cassie Hansen (editor of InteriorsAu).

Jean-Paul Ghougassian, Ritz and Ghougassian Jean-Paul co-founded Ritz and Ghougassian, an architecture and interiors practice that has been the recipient of a number of Eat Drink Design Awards. He leads the interior design side of the practice with a clear vision, shaped by years of experience across restaurants, bars, wellness spaces, private residences and more.

Callan Boys, Good Food Callan is Good Food's national restaurant editor at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and the NSW restaurant critic for Good Weekend. He joined Fairfax Media as the national food and drink writer in 2014 after contributing several restaurant and travel-related articles and reviewing for the Good Food Guide.

Simone McEwan, Nice Projects Simone is an interior architect with two decades of experience. She has delivered highly successful global hospitality projects for brands such as Soho House, Selfridges and Co, Fortnum and Mason and Rosewood Hotels. In 2020, she launched her studio Nice Projects alongside long-term design collaborator Sacha Leong.

Jason M. Jones, Entrecôte and Hopper Joint Jason has been a dynamic force in the culinary world since opening his first restaurant at just 17 years old in his hometown of Maffra. Today, he is proud to call Entrecôte, the Parisian-inspired restaurant in Prahran, his home base, alongside other beloved establishments such as Hopper Joint, Second Home and the recently opened Gigi.

Cassie Hansen, InteriorsAu Cassie is the editor of InteriorsAu and prior to this was the editor of Artichoke magazine for more than ten years. She is an active contributor to design media through writing, editing, presentations and participation in awards juries, including the Asia Pacific Interior Design Awards, the Retail Design Institute Awards, the Vivid Emerging Designers Awards and more.

Entries to the awards are now open until Friday 18 July 2025. Awards and commendations will be announced on Wednesday 29 October. Click here to enter.