Philadelphia Magazine Nominated for Two James Beard Media Awards
We’re nominated alongside the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine and more for two of food journalism’s most prestigious awards.
Philadelphia magazine’s “All Hail the Hoagies” package and Jason Sheehan’s profile of Alexandra Holt, “Fine Dining on Fire,” have been nominated for James Beard Media Awards. / Left: Photograph by Michael Persico. Food styling by Emilie Fosnocht. Design by Jamie Leary. Right: Photography by Rebecca McAlpin
The James Beard Foundation just announced its nominees for the 2024 Media Awards, and Philadelphia is a finalist in two categories: Dining and Travel, and Profile.
The James Beard Awards are considered one of the nation’s most prestigious honors and are meant “to recognize exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.”
Our February 2023 package “All Hail the Hoagie,” which just won a 2024 National Magazine Award in Lifestyle Journalism, is up for an award in the Dining and Travel category for “exemplary and comprehensive service journalism that relies on both critical voice and thorough research to bring a variety of dining options into perspective.” The package, edited by Bradford Pearson with Hannah Albertine, Adam Erace, Victor Fiorillo, Regan Fletcher Stephens, Carla Shackleford, Laura Swartz and Sandy Hingston, is nominated alongside entries from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times.
“It’s an incredible honor to be nominated for a James Beard Award, even more so for a feature that honors the most Philadelphian of foods,” says features editor Bradford Pearson. “When we were working on this package, we aimed to make it just as useful for a local as a tourist, and to be nominated in this category specifically means we did just that.”
Philadelphia’s restaurant critic Jason Sheehan is also up for an award, for his profile of Alexandra Holt. Titled “Fine Dining on Fire,” this story explores how Holt’s experimental restaurant, Roxanne, subverts our expectations of fine dining while challenging sexism within the restaurant industry. “No one deserves this kind of recognition more than Alex,” Sheehan says. “I will always be on the side of the anarchists and revolutionaries in this industry, and she certainly knows how to mix a mean Molotov.”
Sheehan’s competition includes the New Yorker’s Hannah Goldfied and New York Times Magazine’s Alex Halberstadt. “I love it when Philly gets put up against the big kids in New York City. It’s a chance to remind everyone that we play just as well as they do — and look cooler doing it,” Sheehan says.
“Philadelphia magazine has a very proud tradition of covering the Philly food scene with voice and expertise,” says editor Brian Howard. “These nominations reinforce what our readers know intuitively: Like the dining scene we write about, our coverage is world-class.”
