Announcing the 2024 Media Award Nominees
Fri, April 26, 2024
The 2025 Restaurant and Chef Award nominees have been announced! Read more →Read more
Fri, April 26, 2024
Today, we are proud to announce the 2024 Media Award nominees in advance of the returning James Beard Awards ceremonies presented by Capital One. The list includes nominees in Book, Broadcast Media, and Journalism categories. This year's winners will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony in Chicago on the campus of Columbia College Chicago on Saturday, June 8.
Check out the nominees below!
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Cookbooks and other nonfiction food or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2023 were eligible to enter the 2024 James Beard Book Awards. Books from foreign publishers must bear a 2023 U.S. copyright date and/or must have been distributed in the U.S. during 2023.
Baking and Desserts
Books with recipes focused on the art and craft of baking, pastries, and desserts, both sweet and savory items, including ingredients, techniques, equipment, and traditions. This year, submissions to the Bread category were included for consideration within the Baking and Desserts category.
Dark Rye and Honey Cake: Festival Baking from Belgium, the Heart of the Low Countries
Regula Ysewijn
(Weldon Owen)
Mayumu: Filipino American Desserts Remixed
Abi Balingit
(HarperCollins)
More Than Cake: 100 Baking Recipes Built for Pleasure and Community
Natasha Pickowicz
(Artisan Books)
Beverage with Recipes
Books with recipes focused on beverages, such as cocktails, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or juices.
Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs, and Juice: Cocktails from Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks
Toni Tipton-Martin
(Clarkson Potter)
The Maison Premiere Almanac: Cocktails, Oysters, Absinthe, and Other Essential Nutrients for the Sensualist, Aesthete, and Flaneur
Joshua Boissy, Jordan Mackay, and Krystof Zizka with William Elliot
(Clarkson Potter)
Slow Drinks: A Field Guide to Foraging and Fermenting Seasonal Sodas, Botanical Cocktails, Homemade Wines, and More
Danny Childs
(Hardie Grant North America)
Beverage without Recipes
Books without recipes that focus on beverages, such as cocktails, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, or juices; or books that cover these subject areas where recipes are not the focus of cooking, not just a single topic, technique, or region.
Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals
Gary Paul Nabhan and David Suro Piñera
(W. W. Norton & Company)
The New French Wine
Jon Bonné
(Ten Speed Press)
Vines in a Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution
Henry Jeffreys
(Atlantic)
Food Issues and Advocacy
Books that focus on investigative journalism, food policy, food advocacy, deep dives, and critical analysis of the changing social landscape around food.
At the Table: The Chef's Guide to Advocacy
Katherine Miller
(Island Press)
Avocado Anxiety: and Other Stories About Where Your Food Comes From
Louise Gray
(Bloomsbury Wildlife)
Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis: Essays and Recipes
Philip Gleissner and Harry Eli Kashdan
(Rutgers University Press)
General
Books with recipes that address a broad scope of cooking, not just a single topic, technique, or region.
A Cook's Book
Nigel Slater
(Ten Speed)
The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z
Tamar Adler
(Scribner)
Start Here: Instructions for Becoming a Better Cook
Sohla El-Waylly
(Alfred A. Knopf)
International
Books with recipes focused on food or cooking traditions of countries, regions, or communities outside of the United States.
Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation
Clarissa Wei with Ivy Chen
(Simon & Schuster/Simon Element)
My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Diaspora
Yewande Komolafe
(Ten Speed Press)
The World Central Kitchen Cookbook
José Andrés and World Central Kitchen with Sam Chapple-Sokol
(Clarkson Potter)
Literary Writing
Narrative nonfiction books, including memoirs, culinary travel, culinary tourism, biography, reflections on food in a cultural context, and personal essays.
Food Stories: Writing That Stirs the Pot
The Bitter Southerner
(The Bitter Southerner)
For The Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes
Klancy Miller
(HarperCollins)
The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo García
Laura Tillman
(W. W. Norton & Company)
Reference, History, and Scholarship
Manuals, guides, encyclopedias, or books that present research related to food or foodways.
The Ark of Taste: Delicious and Distinctive Foods That Define the United States
David S. Shields and Giselle K. Lord
(Hachette Book Group)
Food Power Politics: The Food Story of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement
Bobby J. Smith II
(University of North Carolina Press)
White Burgers, Black Cash: Fast Food from Black Exclusion to Exploitation
Naa Oyo A. Kwate
(University of Minnesota Press)
Restaurant and Professional
Books written by a culinary professional or restaurant chef with recipes that may include advanced cooking techniques, the use of specialty ingredients and professional equipment, including culinary arts textbooks.
Ester: Australian Cooking
Mat Lindsay with Pat Nourse
(Murdoch Books)
Fish Butchery: Mastering The Catch, Cut, And Craft
Josh Niland
(Hardie Grant Books)
Rintaro: Japanese Food from an Izakaya in California
Jessica Battilana and Sylvan Mishima Brackett
(Hardie Grant North America)
Single Subject
Books with recipes focused on a single ingredient, dish, or method of cooking. Examples include seafood, grains, pasta, burgers, or canning. Exceptions are baking and desserts books, vegetable-focused books, restaurant and professional books, and beverage books—which would be entered in their respective categories.
The Hog Island Book of Fish and Seafood: Culinary Treasures from Our Waters
John Ash
(Cameron Books)
Pasta Every Day: Make It, Shape It, Sauce It, Eat It
Meryl Feinstein
(Hachette Book Group)
Yogurt & Whey: Recipes of an Iranian Immigrant Life
Homa Dashtaki
(W. W. Norton & Company)
U.S. Foodways
Books with recipes focused on the cooking or foodways of regions or communities located within the United States.
Ed Mitchell's Barbeque
Ed Mitchell, Ryan Mitchell, and Zella Palmer
(Ecco)
Love Japan: Recipes from Our Japanese American Kitchen
Aaron Israel and Sawako Okochi with Gabriella Gershenson
(Ten Speed Press)
Made Here Recipes & Reflections From NYC's Asian Communities
Nat Belkov, Elaine Mao, and Tina Zhou, with Christoph Grosse, Diana Le, and Alice Luo of Send Chinatown Love
(Self-Published)
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
Books on vegetable cookery with recipes that are meatless, vegetarian, or vegan.
Ever-Green Vietnamese: Super-Fresh Recipes, Starring Plants from Land and Sea
Andrea Nguyen
(Ten Speed Press)
Japan: The Vegetarian Cookbook
Nancy Singleton Hachisu
(Phaidon Press)
Tenderheart: A Cookbook About Vegetables and Unbreakable Family Bonds
Hetty Lui McKinnon
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Visuals
Books on food or beverage with exceptional graphic design, art, or photography.
The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp
Yudi Echevarria
(Ten Speed Press)
For The Culture: Phenomenal Black Women and Femmes in Food: Interviews, Inspiration, and Recipes
Kelly Marshall with Sarah Madden
(HarperCollins)
Thank You Please Come Again: How Gas Stations Feed & Fuel the American South
Kate Medley with Kiese Laymon and Dave Whitling
(BS Publishing)
Cookbook Hall of Fame
This award is given to either a cookbook that has significantly influenced the way we think about food, honoring authors who possess an exceptional ability to communicate their gastronomic vision via the printed page, or an author whose cookbooks and other culinary books and work, taken together, make a difference in the world of food and cooking. The Book Awards Subcommittee selects the winner for this category. The Cookbook Hall of Fame winner will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 8.
The Broadcast Media Awards recognize non-fiction works in English covering food and beverage topics and appearing widely for the first time in the United States in 2023. These works are from digital and terrestrial media—radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, documentaries, online sites, and social media.
Audio Programming
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related radio or podcast program.
Fed with Chris van Tulleken
“Series 1: Planet Chicken”
Airs on: BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4
Gastropod
“Meet Taro, the Poke Bowl’s Missing Secret Ingredient”
Airs on: Vox Media Podcast Network and all podcast platforms
Good Food
“The life and times of Lalo García: Immigration, deportation, reconciliation”
Airs on: KCRW
Audio Reporting
This award recognizes excellence in reporting and narratives about food and/or food issues in radio or podcasts. This work is issue or deadline-driven, investigative topical, or timely in nature.
Gab Chabrán and Brian De Los Santos
How to LA
“The Best Places to Find a Good Concha in LA”
Airs on: LAist.com and all podcast platforms
Mackenzie Martin
A People’s History of Kansas City
“The Golden Arches in Black Kansas City”
Airs on: KCUR and various podcast platforms
Samia Basille, Emma Morgenstern, and Dan Pashman
The Sporkful
“What ‘Couscousgate’ Tells Us About French Food”
Airs on: All podcast platforms
Commercial Media
This award recognizes excellence in food-related media including video production, audio programming, or other media that is clearly developed and marketed with prominent visual branding, is commercially funded, and/or contains paid advertising. It may be broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.
Mike Aho, Joey Lucas, and Taye Shuayb
Street Somm
Airs on: Tastemade streaming channel
Murilo Ferreira, Carla Francescutti, and Stephen Pelletteri
Vendors: Why One of The Best Restaurants in America Buy Their Oysters from the McIntosh Family
Airs on: Eater channel on YouTube
The Mayda Creative Co. and Wieden+Kennedy New York
The Black Kitchen Series: Innovators, Season 2
Airs on: All podcast platforms
Documentary Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related documentary production (15 minutes or greater in length). The production must have been made available to the public via broadcast, stream (SVOD), download (TVOD), YouTube/Vimeo (AVOD or free view), and/or exhibition at a North American film festival.
The Lebanese Burger Mafia
Airs on: Paramount+
The Michoacan File
Airs on: Various film festivals
Preserving Taste
Airs on: 2023 Ceres Food Festival
Docuseries Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related docuseries production (at least 3 episodes) each of which is longer than 10 minutes. All episodes of the production must have been made available to the public via broadcast, stream (SVOD), download (TVOD), YouTube/Vimeo (AVOD or free view), and/or exhibition at a North American film festival.
High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
Airs on: Netflix
La Frontera with Pati Jinich, Season 2
Airs on: PBS and Amazon Prime
Philippine Salt Series
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube
Instructional Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production with instruction and/or education as its primary intent broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.
Big Sky Kitchen with Eduardo Garcia, Season 2
Airs on: Magnolia Network, Discovery+, and Max
Made with Lau
Airs on: Made with Lau channel on YouTube
What’s Eating Dan?
Airs on: America’s Test Kitchen channel on YouTube
Social Media Account
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related social media account or platform.
KJ Kearney
Black Food Fridays
Airs on: Instagram
Jenny Lau, Randy Lau, and Chung Sun Lau
Made With Lau
Airs on: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok
Abi Marquez
Abi Marquez
Airs on: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube
Unscripted Visual Media
This award recognizes excellence in an unscripted food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app.
The Family Behind LA’s Best Texas BBQ
Airs on: Munchies channel on YouTube
On The Line, Bon Appétit
Airs on: Bon Appétit website and YouTube
Street Eats, Bon Appétit
Airs on: Bon Appétit website and YouTube
Visual Media—Short Form
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app, up to 30 minutes in length, and not appropriate for entry in the categories outlined above.
CAMINANTE video series
Airs on: La Mafia channel on YouTube
Great Wall
Airs on: Undercurrent Film Company channel on Vimeo
Remembrance: Recreating a Jewish family’s recipes
Airs on: CBS Sunday Morning
Visual Media—Long Form
This award recognizes excellence in a food-related video production broadcast, streamed, accessed online, or through an app, longer than 30 minutes in length, and not appropriate for entry in the categories outlined above.
Most Expensive Chocolate in the World (Heirloom Ingredients of Negros Occidental Philippines)
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube
SOMM: Cup of Salvation
Airs on: Somm TV
Why Is the Filipino Calamansi Being Left Behind?
Airs on: FEATR channel on YouTube
The Journalism Awards recognize works in English and cover food- or drink-related content which were published—or self-published—in 2023 in any medium.
Beverage
This award recognizes distinctive style, thorough knowledge, plainspoken prose, and innovative approach in a single article on alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.
"Bourbon, Biodiversity, and the Quest to Save America's Oak Forests"
Betsy Andrews
SevenFifty Daily
"Still Life"
Emily Bingham
Travel + Leisure
"Navigating the new sober boom, where a person's sobriety is as unique as their fingerprint"
D. Watkins
Salon
Columns and Newsletters
This award recognizes the work of an individual or team/group that demonstrates thought-provoking opinion and a compelling style on food- or drink-related topics. An entry consists of three examples of a regularly published column or newsletter, in print or online.
"Not from here, not from there"; "Yee-haw!"; "Jajangmyeon"
G. Daniela Galarza
The Washington Post
"A meal of many seasons"; "Good ice"; "Subsistence abundance"
Laureli Ivanoff
High Country News
"Defining 'Guisado' Is Just as Messy as the Dish Itself"; "A Head Above: How Barbacoa Paved the Way for Barbecue"; "Red, White, and Covered in Salsa: How Two Colors Came to Dominate Taquerias"
José Ralat
Texas Monthly
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Criticism Award
This award recognizes discerning criticism or commentary that contributes to the larger discourse on food, drink, and related topics; this includes restaurant reviews, cultural critiques, or analyses that demonstrate thought-provoking opinion and compelling style.
"Soulé: There's no place like home"; "Thattu: A place of comfort and convictions"; "Justice of the Pies: Making pies and peace"
Louisa Chu
Chicago Tribune
"At Mount Masala, magnificent momos and Himalayan goat worth the trek"; "Roxanne is one of Philly's hot new restaurants. It's more interesting than delicious."; "Dinner at the Union League? No thanks."
Craig LaBan
The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Jewel of New Jersey's Palestinian Enclave"; "Is Scarr's the Best Pizza in New York?"; "The Eternal Question of Food Versus Service"
Helen Rosner
The New Yorker
Dining and Travel
This award recognizes exemplary and comprehensive service journalism that relies on both critical voice and thorough research to bring a variety of dining options into perspective, whether in a single city, a region, or a country.
"All Hail the Hoagie"
Hannah Albertine, Adam Erace, and Bradford Pearson
Philadelphia Magazine
"An Inspiring Journey Home"; "21 Things Craig Laban Ate in Mexico"; "Mexican Spirits, Philly Energy"
Jessica Griffin and Craig LaBan
The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Is Mexico City getting too cool for its own good? I returned to find out"; "The best tacos, cantinas, pulque and classic restaurants in Mexico City"; "Traveling to Mexico City? What to tip, how to behave, and when to avoid the Metro"
Daniel Hernandez
Los Angeles Times
Feature Reporting
This award recognizes excellence for engaging writing and in-depth reporting in food and/or drink features.
"Waiting for the Rain — How Drought in Northern Mexico Impacts the Country's Beer Industry"
Chelsea Carrick
Good Beer Hunting
"Saving the Hogs of Ossabaw Island: An eccentric heiress, a daring mission, and the fight for North America’s most unusual pig."
Diana Hubbell
Gastro Obscura
"No place at the table: Indian women, food, and eating"
Saumya Kalia
Al Jazeera Digital
Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication
This award recognizes excellence in food and/or drink writing, reporting, and presentation in a general interest site or print publication. Judges evaluate each entry for overall breadth and depth of coverage.
The Bitter Southerner
Garden & Gun
Switchyard and FERN
Foodways
This award recognizes the importance of culture and history in food journalism. Entries in this category explore the connection between what we eat and who we are, with an emphasis on reporting.
"Medieval Arabic Culinary Literature Offers Lessons for the Present"
Mahmoud Habboush
New Lines Magazine
"Tell Me Why the Watermelon Grows"
Jori Lewis
Switchyard and FERN
"Billions of snow crabs are missing. A remote Alaskan village depends on the harvest to survive."
Julia O'Malley
Grist and FERN
Health and Wellness
This award recognizes excellence in food- and/or drink-related health and wellness coverage. Entries explore a variety of topics that may include (but are not limited to) addiction, aging, chronic disease, diet, mental health, mind-body connection, nutrition, and reproductive health.
"Long-lived Loma Linda"
Hilary Brueck
Business Insider
"As the Salton Sea Shrinks, Agriculture's Legacy Turns to Dust"
Virginia Gewin
Civil Eats
"Melted, pounded, extruded: Why many ultra-processed foods are unhealthy"
Anahad O'Connor and Aaron Steckelberg
The Washington Post
Home Cooking
This award recognizes excellence in service journalism with a practical focus for the home cook. The award honors imaginative and substantive entries that use fresh, innovative approaches—both written and visual—to illuminate cooking methods, ingredients, and recipes.
"Lost in the Stock"
Noah Galuten
Eater
"Curry Rice Is Always a Good Idea"
Lan Lam
Cook's Illustrated
"Cook with MSG"
Mari Uyehara
Food & Wine
Innovative Visual Storytelling
This award recognizes excellence in food- and/or drink-related content that emphasizes photography, virtual reality, interactive design, or other forms of visual enhancement to tell a story.
"The Protein Problem"
The Associated Press Health and Science Team
The Associated Press
"The Eater College Dining Plan"
Lille Allen, Nat Belkov, and Nick Mancall-Bitel
Eater
"Climate change is pushing American farmers to confront what's next"
Laura Reiley and Kadir van Lohuizen
The Washington Post
Investigative Reporting
This award recognizes excellence in investigative reporting on environmental, political, business, or policy issues regarding food and/or drink.
"The Kids on the Night Shift"; "They're Paid Billions to Root Out Child Labor in the U.S. Why Do They Fail?"; "Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S."
Hannah Dreier
The New York Times
"Walmart's 'Regenerative Foodscape'"; "Op-ed: Walmart's Outsized Catch"; "Diving—and Dying—for Red Gold: The Human Cost of Honduran Lobster"
Alice Driver, Lisa Held, and Aaron Van Neste
Civil Eats
"A Fleet Prone to Captive Labor and Plunder"; "The Uyghurs Forced to Process the World's Fish"; "A Brief History of a Problematic Appetizer"
Ian Urbina and the Staff of The Outlaw Ocean Project
The Outlaw Ocean Project, The New Yorker, and The New York Times
Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award
This award recognizes the work of an individual who engages readers through enterprising food and dining coverage in a specific region, which also displays versatility in form, including reviews, profiles, cooking, quick hits, and hard news reporting.
"Detroit restaurants toy with an old idea: Does sex sell when it comes to dining out?"; "Emerging Chef Josmine Evans is a griot, a grower and a damn-good cook"; "From fasting to feasting: How Fridays during the Lenten season became days of indulgence"
Lyndsay C. Green
Detroit Free Press
"Our Brunches, Ourselves: Atlanta's a divided city. Could unity be found on Sunday at 11 a.m.?"; "All Together Now: Pop-up collective Stolen Goods counts some of Atlanta's finest young chefs of color among its ranks"; "Less Offal, but Still Pretty Good: Holeman & Finch Public House"
Mike Jordan
Atlanta Magazine
"Gifts of Winter"; "How Tammy Wong of Rainbow Chinese Became a Wok Star"; "North Side Star"
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
This award recognizes a single article of exceptional literary merit on the subject of food and/or drink published in any medium.
"The Kids on the Night Shift"
Hannah Dreier
The New York Times Magazine
"To Find Myself, All I Needed Was a Hunting License"
Nylah Iqbal Muhammad
Sweet July
"In Praise of the Gas Station Pie"
Sarah Perry
Cake Zine
Personal Essay
This award recognizes excellence in an essay on any food- and/or drink-related topic without recipes.
"Immigrant Spaghetti"
Farhan Mustafa
The Bitter Southerner
"How salmon fishing helped me embrace my Alaska Native identity"
Kate Nelson
Guardian US
"The Taste of Her Care"
C Pam Zhang
Esquire
Personal Essay with Recipes
This award recognizes excellence in an essay on any food- and/or drink-related topic with recipes.
"The Sweet Solace of Grief Baking"
Angela Burke
Eater
"Hidden Heritage — A Search for Culture, Heirlooms, and My Grandma's Red Rice Recipe"
Stephanie Grant
Good Beer Hunting
"Market Volatility"
Julia Langbein
Bon Appétit
Profile
This award recognizes a single distinctive piece that brings to life the world of a chef, restaurateur, grower, producer, or other figure or group of significance to food and/or drink.
"Top of the Line"
Hannah Goldfield
The New Yorker
"Maggie Harrison's War on Wine"
Alex Halberstadt
The New York Times Magazine
"Fine Dining on Fire"
Jason Sheehan
Philadelphia Magazine
Emerging Voice Awards
The James Beard Awards Emerging Voice winners in Books, Broadcast Media, and Journalism will be announced at the Media Awards ceremony on June 8 as part of their respective categories.
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