The James Beard Foundation has announced this year's James Beard Media Awards honouring the US's top food authors, broadcast producers, hosts, and journalists.
The winners are chosen by an elite panel of dozens of volunteer industry professionals in each category, from editors and authors to educators and photographers, and names those individuals or companies producing outstanding work in the industry.
For the first time in the history of the awards, this year's winners were announced online instead of at the annual red-carpet awards ceremony in New York City, to ensure everyone's safety during the coronavirus crisis. However, the importance of the awards for those working in the industry was felt more than ever, offering a moment of celebration and reflection during a time of hardship and uncertainty for the sector.
The Foundation will also host a new digital series called the James Beard Awards at Home, offering a forum for the committee chairs and winners of the James Beard Media Awards to converse about the nature and future of writing, reporting, and broadcasting about food during a global pandemic.
The James Beard Restaurant & Chef Awards winners will be announced on Friday, September 25, 2020, from Chicago, and they will be broadcast live via the James Beard Foundation’s Twitter feed.
The complete list of award winners can be seen below:
2020 James Beard Foundation Media Awards Winners
For cookbooks and other non-fiction food- or beverage-related books that were published in the U.S. in 2019.
American
Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking
Toni Tipton-Martin
(Clarkson Potter)
Baking and Desserts
Living Bread: Tradition and Innovation in Artisan Bread Making
Daniel Leader and Lauren Chattman
(Avery)
Beverage with Recipes
The NoMad Cocktail Book
Leo Robitschek
(Ten Speed Press)
Beverage without Recipes
World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition
Hugh Johnson and Jancis Robinson
(Mitchell Beazley)
General
Where Cooking Begins: Uncomplicated Recipes to Make You a Great Cook
Carla Lalli Music
(Clarkson Potter)
Health and Special Diets
Gluten-Free Baking at Home: 102 Foolproof Recipes for Delicious Breads, Cakes, Cookies, and More
Jeffrey Larsen
(Ten Speed Press)
International
Ethiopia: Recipes and Traditions from the Horn of Africa
Yohanis Gebreyesus with Jeff Koehler
(Interlink Publishing)
Photography
American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta
Eric Wolfinger
(Chronicle Books)
Reference, History, and Scholarship
The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration
Chris Smith
(Chelsea Green Publishing)
Restaurant and Professional
The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think
Josh Niland
(Hardie Grant Books)
Single Subject
Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy's Best Home Cooks
Vicky Bennison
(Hardie Grant Books)
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar
Amy Chaplin
(Artisan Books)
Writing
Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer
Bren Smith
(Knopf)
Book of the Year
The Whole Fish Cookbook: New Ways to Cook, Eat and Think
Josh Niland
(Hardie Grant Books)
Cookbook Hall of Fame
Jancis Robinson
2020 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards
For radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, webcasts, and documentaries appearing in 2019.
Audio Program
It Burns: The Scandal-Plagued Race to Breed the World’s Hottest Chili
Airs on: Audible
Audio Reporting
Gravy – Mahalia Jackson’s Glori-Fried Chicken
Reporter: Betsy Shepherd
Airs on: southernfoodways.org and iTunes
Documentary
That's My Jazz
Airs on: Vimeo
Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional
Grace Young – Wok Therapist
Airs on: GraceYoung.com and YouTube
Online Video, on Location
Handmade – How Knives Are Made for New York's Best Restaurants; How a Ceramics Master Makes Plates for Michelin-Starred Restaurants
Airs on: Eater and YouTube
Outstanding Personality/Host
Roy Choi
Broken Bread with Roy Choi
Airs on: Tastemade and KCET
Television Program, in Studio or Fixed Location
Pati's Mexican Table – A Local's Tour of Culiacán
Airs on: WETA; distributed nationally by American Public Television
Television Program, on Location
Las Crónicas del Taco (Taco Chronicles) – Canasta
Airs on: Netflix
Visual and Audio Technical Excellence
Chef's Table
Adam Bricker, Chloe Weaver, and Will Basanta
Airs on: Netflix
Visual Reporting (on TV or Online)
Rotten – The Avocado War
Reporters: Christine Haughney, Erin Cauchi, and Gretchen Goetz
Airs on: Netflix
2020 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
For articles published in English in 2019.
Columns
Power Rankings: “The Official Fast Food French Fry Power Rankings”; “The Official Spicy Snack Power Rankings”; “The Official Domestic Beer Power Rankings”
Lucas Kwan Peterson
Los Angeles Times
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award
“Peter Luger Used to Sizzle. Now It Sputters.”; “The 20 Most Delicious Things at Mercado Little Spain”; “Benno, Proudly Out of Step With the Age”
Pete Wells
The New York Times
Dining and Travel
“In Pursuit of the Perfect Pizza”
Matt Goulding
Airbnb Magazine
Feature Reporting
“Value Meal”
Tad Friend
The New Yorker
Food Coverage in a General Interest Publication
The New Yorker
Foodways
“A Real Hot Mess: How Grits Got Weaponized Against Cheating Men”
Cynthia R. Greenlee
MUNCHIES / Food by VICE
Health and Wellness
“How Washington Keeps America Sick and Fat”; “Meet the Silicon Valley Investor Who Wants Washington to Figure Out What You Should Eat”
Catherine Boudreau and Helena Bottemiller Evich
Politico
Home Cooking
“Fry Time”
Nancy Singleton Hachisu
Saveur
Innovative Storytelling
“Food and Loathing on the Campaign Trail”
Gary He, Matt Buchanan, and Meghan McCarron
Eater
Investigative Reporting
“‘The Man Who Attacked Me Works in Your Kitchen’: Victim of Serial Groper Took Justice into Her Own Hands”
Amy Brittain and Maura Judkis
The Washington Post
Jonathan Gold Local Voice Award
“In Search of Hot Beef”; “Chef Jack Riebel Is in the Fight of His Life”; “Harry Singh on the Perfect Roti, Trinidad, and Life in the Kitchen”
Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl
Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
“My Mother's Catfish Stew”
John T. Edge
Oxford American
Personal Essay, Long Form
“The Dysfunction of Food”
Kim Foster
Kim-Foster.com
Personal Essay, Short Form
“For 20 Years, happy hour has seen us through work — and life”
M. Carrie Allan
The Washington Post
Profile
“The Provocations of Chef Tunde Wey”
Brett Martin
GQ Magazine
Wine, Spirits, and Other Beverages
“Seltzer Is Over. Mineral Water Is Forever.”
Jordan Michelman
PUNCH
Emerging Voice Award
L.A. Taco
