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It takes a lot of work to make America’s food industry what it is, and each year, the nonprofit , celebrates the people behind our country’s food culture with annual awards in categories like drinks, guides and tips, events, and media.

The media category honors authors, journalists, broadcasters, social media content creators, and other media professionals who cover the food industry across the country.

To pick the winners in this category, the James Beard Foundation puts out an open call for entries. A committee screens the entries and recategorizes them as needed. From there, each entry will go through two rounds of review by a panel of judges who first rank the top 10 and then judge the top 10 using a judging form they created.

Judges then score the nominees using the same judging form, and the top scorer is announced the winner in each category.

The 2023 media winners were announced over the weekend at Columbia College in Chicago, and two former �鶹���� Detroit employees made the top cut.

Top emerging voice ��

Lyndsay C. Green, a restaurant and dining critic for the Detroit Free Press and former managing and dining editor for �鶹���� Detroit, took home the James Beard Journalism Award for Emerging Voice.

, Green, who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize this year for rigorously reported coverage of restaurant openings and recommended dishes that also serve as an immersive cultural portrait of a vital American city,” according to the organization or the Pulitzer Prize board, “covers a diverse dining scene while also writing about cultural issues.” In addition, her work includes restaurant reviews, along with stories on local food and businesses.

During her acceptance, she thanked the Free Press for their role in allowing her to “report on the dining scene so honestly” and share her perspective as a Black woman.

“This win isn’t just exciting for me,” she said at the event. “It shows your (the James Beard Foundation’s) support of local journalism, and that’s so important.”

Best documentary

Coldwater Kitchen, a documentary that highlights a culinary arts program at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, Michigan, took home the award for top documentary this year.

In the film, co-directors Brian Kaufman, executive video producer for the Detroit Free Press, and Mark Kurlyandchik, former Free Press restaurant critic and former intern and senior editor for �鶹���� Detroit, follows Chef Jimmy Lee Hill — who has led the program for nearly 30 years —��and three of his students who “must navigate incarceration and the challenges of transition back into society after leaving prison,” .

The film, which was featured in the April 2023 issue of �鶹���� Detroit, made its debut at the 10th annual Freep Film Festival earlier this year.

More James Beard Winners

Winners were also picked in categories including 14 subcategories under books, 10 subcategories under broadcast media, and 17 subcategories under journalism. Find .

The next round of awards, which is for the chef and restaurant categories, will be announced tonight.

Local finalists up for awards in these categories include Hajime Sato of in Clawson for Outstanding Chef; Spencer in Ann Arbor for Outstanding Wine and other Beverages Program; and Omar Anani of in Detroit, Andy Hollyday of in Detroit, and Sarah Welch of in Detroit, who are all up for Best Chef Great Lakes.

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