The Australian Food Media Awards 2008, were held last night in the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre’s elegant Parkside Ballroom. The event rewarded the country’s leading communicators of cuisine, wine and produce across 23 important categories in print, radio, television, cable, the internet, advertising and photography.
“The food media industry is growing rapidly in response to a newly voracious public appetite for decisive, knowledgeable, entertaining food and wine information,” said Stewart White, President of the Food Media Club Australia (FMCA), which presents the Awards.
“The continuing high standard of Australia’s food communicators is obvious when looking at the calibre of the 2008 winners.”
Maggie Beer won the inaugural Lifestyle FOOD Channel’s People’s Choice Award. It marks the first-ever public participation in the biennial Awards, calling for the public to choose who has most influenced their home cooking from a list of high-profile food personalities – including their mother.
“It was interesting to see whether participants would vote outright for the influence of their mother against the other suggested foodie candidates. Maggie Beer and her enthusiastic warmth and great passion for food perhaps exudes that special maternal feeling,” said White. “The level of community participation was fabulous – people clearly enjoyed the experience. The food industry is richer for the public inclusion.”
With her co-presenter Simon Bryant and producer Margot Phillipson, the energetic South Australian has also won the Sizzler Bernard King Award – Best Television Food Segment for ABCTV’S the Cook and the Chef series. Maggie’s Harvest (Penguin Group Australia) was also highly commended by judges in the category Best Recipe Book over $36.
The FMCA Award for Best Overall Contribution to the Communication of Food was won by Lyndey Milan. Milan also shared the Alfa One Rice Bran Oil Award for Best Radio Food Segment with Radio 2GB broadcaster Murray Wilton, titled Lyndey Milan on the Good Life with Murray Wilton.
The Australian Chicken Meat Federation Award for Best Recipe Book over $36 was won by Greg and Lucy Malouf for their book Turquoise (Hardie Grant). The Malouf’s are restaurateurs, chefs and the producers of a range of Turkish-inspired shelf produce. Their win is indicative of a welcome increase in chef/restaurateur food writing, often in collaboration with established food writers.
Lucio Galletto from Lucio’s restaurant and David Dale won the Simon Johnson Award for Best Food-related Book for Soffritto (Allen & Unwin), while Jared Ingersoll from Dank Street Depot won the Füri Knives Award for Best Recipe Book under $36 for the second time in this category with his latest book Sharing Plates (Murdoch Books).
Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish won the inaugural PorkStar Award for Best Cookery Book by a Chef or Restaurant with Modiva (Murdoch Books).
Award organisers were delighted with the large contingent of restaurateurs within the 400-strong audience enjoying Simon Marnie’s skills as Master of Ceremonies and the venue’s superb menu crafted by Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre’s talented Executive Chef, Detlef Haupt.
Newspaper wins were headed by The Age Epicure section, which took out the Nuts for Life Award for Best Food Section in a Metropolitan Newspaper. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Living food supplement was Highly Commended in this category. Epicure Editor Veronica Ridge was recognised for her superior writing, winning the Le Cordon Bleu Award for Best Investigative Food Journalism for her article “The New Land Army”.
The Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend editorial team of Terry Durack, Cath Claringbold, Andrew McConnell, Guilllaume Brahini and Huon Hooke won the Lion Nathan Award for Best Recipe Feature in a Newspaper or Newspaper Magazine for “Easy Pickings”, while the Geelong Advertiser GT section took out the Nuts for Life Award for Best Food Section in a Regional Newspaper.
On the writer support side, the Judy Hirst Memorial Award for Best New Writer, supported by Meat & Livestock Australia, was won by Hugh Wennerbom for articles published in Australian Gourmet Traveller. The Margaret Fulton Award – Recognising Potential in an Emerging Recipe Author – was awarded to Adelaide Lucas for recipes published in Australian Gourmet Traveller.
