Awards

With the recent announcement of the IACP Cookbook Awards and James Beard Awards on the horizon, the cooking world's award season is in full force. Today, Food & Wine magazine unveiled its 2012 class of Best New Chefs, an award it's bestowed upon 10 chefs annually for nearly a quarter of a century. The accolades have been widely regarded as a harbinger of lifelong culinary success; after all, the inaugural 1988 class included Rick Bayless, Daniel Boulud, and Thomas Keller.

Winners include Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone of New York's restaurant of the moment, Torrisi Italian Specialties. An awards ceremony honoring the chefs takes place tonight in New York City. Find out which other chefs have made the cut when you keep reading.

After the James Beards, the next most coveted award in the food industry is the title of Best New Chef. Each year, since 1988, Food & Wine has bestowed the honor on a different crop of young chefs. Among past honorees? Tom Colicchio, Rick Bayless, and Thomas Keller. Over the past couple of days, the magazine's editor in chief, Dana Cowin, tweeted 10 clues to declare the winners.

Tonight there's the formal announcement and blowout bash (which 50 Cent is rumored to be attending) honoring the Best New Chefs in New York City. To find out which lucky chefs made the cut — it's the first time a Top Chef contestant has been recognized! — read more.

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) has just announced the list of finalists for their 2011 Cookbook Awards. Like the James Beards, the IACP winners are regarded as the best of the best in the food world. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the cookbook honors and finalists include Michael Chiarello, Rick Bayless, and Amanda Hesser.

The IACP awards have the following categories: American; Baking: Savory or Sweet; Chefs & Restaurants; Children, Youth, and Family; Compilations; Culinary History; First Book; Food Photography and Styling; Food Reference; General; Health and Special Diet; International; Library Food Writing; Professional Kitchens; Single Subject; and Wine, Beer & Spirits. To find out which notable cookbooks have been included and to share your favorite cookbook, read more.

Food & Wine magazine's quest for the People's Best New Chef is over, and a winner has been declared: Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa in Boston, MA, has won the popular vote.

"It's fantastic that Jamie, who champions offal and serves calf's brain ravioli and blood sausage pepperoni pizza, has such a huge following," Food & Wine editor in chief Dana Cowin said in a statement.

The other finalists from each region included the following:

• Midwest: Lee Richardson, Ashley's at the Capital Hotel, Little Rock, AR
• Pacific: Ricardo Zarate, Mo-Chica, Los Angeles, CA
• Southwest: Tim Byres, Smoke, Dallas, TX
• Northwest: Jason Franey, Canlis, Seattle, WA
• Southeast: Bryan Emperor, Kalu, Charlotte, NC
• New York Area: David Felton, Ninety Acres, Peapack-Gladstone, NJ
• Great Lakes: Jose Salazar, The Palace, Cincinnati, OH
• Mid-Atlantic: Kyle Bailey, Birch & Barley, Washington, DC
• Gulf Coast: James Lewis, Bettola, Birmingham, AL

Have you ever tried the food from any of these regional superstars?

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This morning, the James Beard Foundation unveiled its 2011 semifinalists for the James Beard Awards, a nod to restaurateurs, chefs and pastry chefs, wine and spirits leaders, and service professionals that are often referred to as the "Oscars of the food world."

The preliminary list is quite lengthy, but notable contenders include two Josés (Andrés and Garces — can you tell them apart?), Michael Symon, and Suzanne Goin for outstanding chef. In the best new restaurant category, Stephanie Izard's new eatery, Girl & the Goat, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten's ABC Kitchen in Manhattan have both received accolades.

The semifinalist announcement is the first round before each of the 19 restaurant and chef categories is cut down to its final five nominees on March 21. The actual accolades will be announced at an awards gala on May 9 in New York's Lincoln Center. Check out the preliminary list. Who do you think is poised to win this year?

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One of the most coveted awards a young chef can receive is the title of Food & Wine's Best New Chef. Every April, the Food & Wine staff selects 10 chefs to be honored in the magazine and at a gala at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen. This year, for the first time ever, the glossy has added a people's choice element to Best New Chefs.

It's partnered with CNN's food blog, Eatocracy, to launch a competition called The People's Best New Chef. The voting will take place online, and the winner will be featured alongside the magazine's picks for Best New Chef. Voting starts tomorrow with 10 chefs from 10 different regions and will run through March 1.

The chef with the most votes from each region will be named a finalist; the finalist with the most overall votes will be named 2011 People's Best New Chef. I'm curious to see who from the San Francisco Bay Area will be nominated and interested in the results of the competition. Will you vote for your favorite chefs?

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With Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, and chefs across the nation uniting to promote healthful, smart eating, it's clear that Americans are ready to change their diets. Another sign that the fight against obesity is at the forefront of many people's minds? Jamie Oliver's shiny new Emmy.

Yesterday, the British chef's Food Revolution won the 2010 Primetime Emmy for best reality show. Oliver expressed his shock and joy for the award over Twitter where he said, "I can't believe it we won the Emmy for Food Revolution!!"

Although I only caught a couple of episodes of the series, I'm glad to see the chef and his cause awarded. Are you happy for Oliver?

The James Beard Awards may be over, but the culinary accolades continue as award show season soldiers on. Today, the nominees for this year's Daytime Emmy Awards were announced, and the list included a number of notable culinary programs and food figures.

PBS and Food Network each have two shows that'll compete head-to-head for the title of Outstanding Culinary Program. For Public Broadcasting, it's America's Test Kitchen and the new travel show, Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth; for Food Network, the shows are Giada at Home and Tyler's Ultimate.

Vying for the Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Host award are a number of Food Network stars — Bobby Flay, Ina Garten, Paula Deen, and Giada De Laurentiis — as well as Martha Stewart for her syndicated talk show. Food Trip With Todd English, Eric Ripert's Avec Eric, and De Laurentiis's Giada at Home are also up for honors in outstanding directing.

I'll be rooting for new shows Avec Eric and Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth when the winners are unveiled on June 27. What cooking shows will you be cheering on?

New York City was one busy town last night. While the glitterati of the fashion world flocked to the Met for the annual Costume Institute Gala, the best chefs in the nation gathered at Lincoln Center for the James Beard Awards. Starting yesterday afternoon, the Internet was abuzz with news about the event, the culinary industry's equivalent to the Oscars. The James Beard Foundation live tweeted the winners, while local bloggers, like Eater, were also in on the action.

Top Chef head honcho Tom Colicchio took home top honors winning the coveted Outstanding Chef title. Timothy Hollingsworth, former Bocuse d'Or competitor, was named Rising Star Chef, and Best New Restaurant went to Michael White's Marea. To check out the complete list of winners, read more