At a ceremony in New York City tonight, the James Beard Foundation announced its Media Award winners for 2018.
Formerly known as the Book, Broadcast, and Journalism Awards — the broad categories the Foundation still recognizes — tonight’s festivities saw wins for cookbook authors like Samin Nosrat, Sean Sherman, Stella Parks, as well as writer Michael Twitty, who took home the award for writing and for book of the year for The Cooking Gene.
In broadcast journalism, Vivian Howard and Ina Garten took home awards, as the Sporkful podcast, and the hit Netflix show Chef’s Table (this year for its exceptional episode dedicated to Korean nun Jeong Kwan). And it the journalism categories, Roads & Kingdoms, Bon Appétit, and the New York Times took home awards, as did pieces placed in relatively non-conventional outlets, like ESPN Magazine and Politico. LA Times critic Jonathan Gold won the coveted Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award, and publication of the year going to NPR’s The Salt. The biggest surprise of the night: Brett Anderson’s groundbreaking expose about the culture of sexual harassment at John Besh’s restaurant group in New Orleans did not win a medal.
Restaurant and chef category winners will be announced at the James Beard Awards Gala, where the America’s Classics winners are also acknowledged, on Monday, May 7 in Chicago.
2018 James Beard Foundation Media Award Winners
2018 James Beard Foundation Book Awards
For books published in English in 2017.
American
The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen
Sean Sherman with Beth Dooley
(University of Minnesota Press)
Baking and Desserts
BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts
Stella Parks
(W. W. Norton & Company)
Beverage
Meehan’s Bartender Manual
Jim Meehan
(Ten Speed Press)
General
Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat
Samin Nosrat
(Simon and Schuster)
Health and Special Diets
Deepa’s Secrets
Deepa Thomas
(Skyhorse)
International
Nopalito
Gonzalo Guzman and Stacy Adimando
(Ten Speed Press)
Photography
Cook Beautiful
Johnny Miller
(Abrams)
Reference, History, and Scholarship
Champagne
Peter Liem
(Ten Speed Press)
Restaurant and Professional
Modernist Bread
Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya
(The Cooking Lab)
Single Subject
The Pho Cookbook
Andrea Nguyen
(Ten Speed Press)
Vegetable-Focused Cooking
Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables
Joshua McFadden with Martha Holmberg
(Artisan Books)
Writing
The Cooking Gene
Michael W. Twitty
(Amistad)
Book of the Year Award
The Cooking Gene
Michael W. Twitty
(Amistad)
Cookbook Hall of Fame Inductee
2018 James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Awards
For radio, television broadcasts, podcasts, webcasts, and documentaries appearing in 2017.
Documentary
Barbecue
Director: Matthew Salleh
Producers: Daniel Joyce and Rose Tucker
Airs on: Netflix
Outstanding Personality/Host
Pati Jinich
Pati’s Mexican Table
Airs on: WETA Washington; Distributed Nationally by American Public Television
Podcast
The Sporkful
Host: Dan Pashman
Producers: Dan Pashman, Anne Noyes Saini, and Dan Charles
Airs on: Stitcher, iTunes
Radio Show/Audio Webcast
The Legacy of the Mississippi Delta Chinese
Host: Melissa Block
Producer: Elissa Nadworny
Airs on: NPR
Special (on TV or Web)
Lidia Celebrates America: Homegrown Heroes
Host: Lidia Bastianich
Producer: Laurie Donnelly
Airs on: PBS
Television Program, in Studio or Fixed Location
Barefoot Contessa: Cook Like a Pro
Host: Ina Garten
Producers: Rachel Purnell, Olivia Ball, and Bridget Lumley
Airs on: Food Network
Television Program, on Location
Chef’s Table: Jeong Kwan
Producers: David Gelb, Brian McGinn, and Andrew Fried
Airs on: Netflix
Television Segment
PBS NewsHour
Reporters: Allison Aubrey and Paul Solman
Producer: Mary Beth Durkin
Airs on: PBS
Video Webcast, Fixed Location and/or Instructional
Panna Cooking: Black Bean-Glazed Salmon with Ginger Cabbage
Host: Vivian Howard
Producers: Amy Currie and Stephanie Roush
Airs on: pannacooking.com
Video Webcast, on Location
Working 24 Hours at...
Host: Andrew Knowlton
Director: Vincent Cross
Producer: Matt Duckor
Airs on: YouTube and Bon Appétit Video
Visual and Technical Excellence
Food Talkies
Director, Photographer, Editor: Andrew Gooi
Airs on: foodtalkies.com
2018 James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards
For articles published in English in 2017.
Columns
Missed Cues: “Get Help”; “Distilled Identity”; and “Destination, Small Town”
Osayi Endolyn
Gravy
Dining and Travel
“In Pursuit of Perfect Hummus”
J.M. Hirsch
Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine
Feature Reporting
“The NBA’s Secret Addiction”
Baxter Holmes
ESPN The Magazine
Food and Health
“The Great Nutrient Collapse”
Helena Bottemiller Evich
Politico
Food Section
Roads & Kingdoms
Nathan Thornburgh, Matt Goulding, Cara Parks, and the Roads & Kingdoms Team
Foodways
“The Teenage Whaler’s Tale”
Julia O’Malley
High Country News
Home Cooking
“Thanksgiving Lessons”
Adam Rapoport and the Bon Appétit Editorial Team
Bon Appétit
Humor
“Pumpkin Spice Life”
Maura Judkis
The Washington Post
Innovative Storytelling
“The New Essentials of French Cooking”
Melissa Clark, Emily Weinstein, Barbara deWilde, and Alexandra Eaton
The New York Times
Investigative Reporting
“‘The Only Good Muslim’” and “Compromised”
Ted Genoways
The New Republic
Local Impact
“Farm to Chapel”; “They Ditched Vienna Sausages for Porterhouse Steaks and Lobster at West Grove Cookout”; and “How a Secular Jewish Baker Became Miami’s Kosher King”
Carlos Frías
Miami Herald
Personal Essay
“Dear Women: Own Your Stories”
Lisa Donovan
Foodandwine.com
Profile
“She Was a Soul Food Sensation. Then, 19 Years Ago, She Disappeared.”
Mayukh Sen
Food52
Wine, Spirits, and Other Beverages
“The Pu-Erh Broker”
Max Falkowitz
Saveur
Craig Claiborne Distinguished Restaurant Review Award
Counter Intelligence: “The World’s Best Restaurant Opens a Pop-Up in Mexico”; “At Vespertine, Jonathan Gold Makes Contact with Otherworldly Cooking”; “Jonathan Gold Finds Delight in the Secretive Santa Monica Restaurant Dialogue”
Jonathan Gold
Los Angeles Times
MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award
“Who Owns Uncle Ben?”
Shane Mitchell
The Bitter Southerner
Publication of the Year
• All James Beard Awards Coverage [E]
Note: Eater’s national critic Bill Addison is on the James Beard restaurant and chef awards committee but is recused from covering the Beards.