With over 6,200 colourful designs and balanced meal ideas to choose from, our Design a Meal Competition judges had an incredibly tricky job narrowing the entries down to our final shortlist! 
 
The runners-up selected from the short list displayed an amazing range of creativity, from a plant-based feast for vegetarian ParalympicsGB swimmer Alice Tai, a tower of tacos for Team GB’s Mexican food loving Kieran Rilley, and an ocean themed meal for his teammate, swimmer Duncan Scott! 
 
Check out all of the designs below and join us in congratulating all of the shortlisted entrants, who will each receive a certificate to commemorate their achievement! Want to know who won the competition? See our Design a Meal Competition winner announcement and watch their chosen Aldi Athlete Ambassador cook up the meal designed in their honour, too! 

Sahib, age 5, Cranmore Infant School

Sahib’s design features lots of protein from chickpeas, paneer and cashews to help Team GB swimmer Duncan Scott’s muscles recover from training.

James, age 7, Ysgol Bryn Hedydd

James’ chicken and veggie pasta for Team GB’s Helen Glover is served in a boat shape to help to make Helen smile and give her confidence before her race!

Myrtle, age 8, Cotford St Luke Primary School

Alongside both being vegetarian, Myrtle and ParalympicsGB swimmer Alice Tai share a love of swimming, pasta and lentils! Her three-course, plant-based meal will give them both the energy to swim well!

Enzo, 8, St Francis Catholic Primary School

Enzo’s rigatoni dish is perfect for Italian food-loving ParalympicsGB athlete Hannah Cockroft, and the watermelon cooler will help to keep her hydrated between races!

Nayan, 11, Hillbrook Primary School

Inspired by a special family recipe, Nayan’s dish contains lean turkey meatballs and a veg-packed tomato sauce to give her chosen Aldi Athlete Ambassador, Duncan Scott, the slow-release energy he needs to succeed!

Beatrice, 10, Pipers Corner School

In her Paris 2024 Olympic Games inspired meal for Emily Campbell, Beatrice created protein packed surf-and-turf barbell skewers, veggie gold medals and even a French flag ice cream!

Megan 14, Llanidloes High School

Megan made sure Hannah Cockroft could easily eat her five-a-day, by including them all in her chicken and veggie curry!

Lily, 14, Penwotham Girls High School

Lily’s bento box of teriyaki chicken will ensure Emily Campbell has access to all of the essential nutrients and food groups to power her to perform on the go!

The shortlist

Alongside the 8 runners up, our judges want to recognise two entrants as ‘highly commended’ – Noah, age 6 from Simmondley Primary School and Aubrey, age 9, from Southfield Primary School. Their meals narrowly missed out on being selected as runners up, and made it a very difficult decision for the judges!

Finally, a massive congratulations to the 9 entrants who made up the remainder of our final shortlist, too – your shortlisted certificates will be arriving soon!

Francis, age 6, Saxon Primary School

Tom, age 6, Rokeby School

Ellie, age 8, West Park School

Arianna, age 10, St Patrick’s Primary

Mari, age 10, Woodlands Preparatory School

Lucy, age 10, St Julian’s Primary School

Aaina, age 11, Willows Primary School

Grace, age 12, Brompton Academy

Zahra, age 14, Soar Valley College