"james beard foundation" news and stories

In breaking food news, the James Beard Foundation is announcing the 2009 JBA Nominees live on Twitter.

Follow them at twitter.com/beardfoundation or watch this post, and we'll update as the announcements roll in.

The 2009 inductees into the Who's Who of Food & Beverage are: David Burke, John T. Edge, Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Betty Fussell, Clark Wolf

Journalism Awards Nominees:

Multimedia: Ruth Reichl (Gourmet.com): Gourmet Cookbook Club and The Test Kitchen; Mike Sula (Chicagoreader.com): Whole Hog Project

Web Site Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant or Nutrition: Chow.com, Epicurious.com and Gourmet.com

Food Blogs: The BA Foodist (Bonappetit.com), Hunter Angler Gardener Cook (Honest-food.net), Our One-Block Diet (Oneblockdiet.sunset.com)

Writing on Spirits, Wine, or Beer: Jon Bonné (San Francisco Chronicle), Jay McInerney (Men's Vogue), Alan Richman (GQ)

Food-Related Columns: Dorie Greenspan (Bon Appétit), Corby Kummer (The Atlantic) and Laura Shapiro (Gourmet.com)

Nutrition/Food-Related Issues: Barry Estabrook (Gourmet), Mark Adams, et al (New York Magazine), Rachael Moeller Gorman (EatingWell)

Restaurant Reviews: Jonathan Gold (LA Weekly), Adam Platt (New York Magazine) and Tom Sietsema (The Washington Post)

Magazine Feature Writing w/o Recipes: Alan Richman (GQ), Patricia Sharpe (Texas Monthly), Monique Truong (Gourmet)

Magazine Feature with Recipes: Edna Lewis (Gourmet)*published posthumously, David Dobbs and John Ash (EatingWell), James Peterson (Saveur)

Magazine Feature Writing about Restaurants and/or Chefs: Ruth Reichl (Gourmet), Alan Richman (Departures), Anya von Bremzen (Food & Wine)

Newspaper Food Section: Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle and The Washington Post

Newspaper Feature w/ Recipes: Rebekah Denn (Seattle Post-Intelligencer), David Leite (New York Times), Kathleen Purvis (Charlotte Observer)

Newspaper Feature w/o Recipes: Monica Eng (Chicago Tribune), Kristen Hinman (Riverfront Times) and Craig LaBan (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Newspaper Feature about Restaurants and/or Chefs: Monica Eng/Phil Vettel(Chicago Trib), Katy McLaughlin (WSJ), Tom Sietsema (The Wash Post)

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award: Celia Barbour (O, The Oprah Magazine), Aleksandra Crapanzano (Gourmet), Alan Richman (GQ)

Restaurant, Cookbook and Media Awards nominees are after the jump.

Over the years, the name James Beard has become synonymous with quality food, food writing, restaurant design and food media. Each May, all the players in the food world gather in New York to honor the best among them. However, when they convene in 2009, there's going to be whole new contingent in their midst.

The James Beard Foundation announced last week that in 2009, they will be adding a category for Blogs. In the press release, alerting us to this addition, they said,

Blogs have become an essential part of today's evolving media landscape. They provide journalists from both traditional and nontraditional backgrounds with an immediate, direct outlet for their work, and open up an unprecedented avenue for vibrant dialogue with readers. With the addition of this vital new category, the James Beard Foundation recognizes the tremendous impact that blogs have had on food journalism, and their importance to the future of the medium.

I look forward with great interest and excitement to seeing which blogs the James Beard Foundation will select as their first honorees.

In 2007, the WHYY program A Chef's Table, was up for a James Beard Award. An acquaintance of mine works as a producer for that show and so I followed the outcome of the awards with a fervor akin to that which my fellow Philadelphians apply to the Eagles. Sadly, Lari and her team didn't win (although they did get a nice dinner out of it).

The 2008 award events were held over this last weekend and this morning the complete list of award winners was available online. I was particularly glad to see that Barbara Kingsolver won for her book on local eating, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Congrats also to Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer who write New York Magazine's food blog Grub Street for grabbing the award for Multimedia Writing on Food.

Make sure to check out all the nominees and winners, as there is so much amazing writing, radio and television on that list. It could potentially keep you busy until the awards are announced next year.

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Blogger and food writer Ed Levine was at the annual James Beard Foundation Awards dinner last night and, very luckily for all of us who couldn't attend, photoblogged the whole thing! The event is often called the culinary equivalent of the Oscars and when the nominees are announced, there is a sense of aniticipation for the ceremony. Unfortunately, just like the Oscars, not everyone can win, no matter how much it seems that each person deserves to. Thanks to Ed, we got a sneak peek at the winners last night, even though the offical press release has yet to be seen just came out. I'll mention right now that this list is not complete, but a full list is now available at the James Beard Foundation website, or by following the links after the jump.

• Lifetime Achievement - Judith Jones 
• Best Cookbook - Sunday Suppers at Lucques, by Suaanne Goins
• Best Food Website - Leitesculinaria.com
• Best Television Food Show - How to Cook Everything (on PBS)
• Best Webcast - Spatulata.com (Isabella, 10, and Olivia Gerasole, 8, prepare a dinner's worth of recipes every two weeks. They are the youngest recipients in the history of the awards)
• Best New Restaurant - Modern in NY
• Best Restaurant - The French Laundry
• Best Restaurant Service - Gary Danko
• Best Chef - Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill
• Best Restaurateur - Daniel Boulud
• Best Food Section, large circulation - SF Chronicle
• Best Food Section, small circulation - Denver Post

[via la.foodblogging]

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