Associated Press Food Editor JM (Jason) Hirsch.

Many publications and media companies subscribe to the Associated Press (AP), which sends them food stories.

AP produces stories that appear in thousands of newspapers and the websites of television stations, new media companies, and radio stations. J.M. (Jason) Hirsch is the company’s food editor. And the good news is that he assigns food stories regularly to freelance writers.

Hirsch is no slouch himself when it comes to writing about food, having authored High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking and writing the occasional feature for AP. He’s also the author of two blogs: Lunchbox Blues, documenting the meal he makes each day for his 7-year old son; and Off the Beaten Aisle, a blog for the Food Network that he writes as part of his job at AP.

I interviewed Hirsch about his job and opportunities for freelance writers at AP:

Q. How did you become AP’s Food Editor?

A. I was a reporter specializing in crime and juvenile issues. I loved to cook and began taking an interest in food writing. I started doing a column on vegetarian food. Then AP decided food was a big issue around 2000, and it became time for a dedicated food writer. I was given a lot of freedom to pursue great stories, and food became a bigger beat.

When my predecessor retired seven years ago, I was asked to take over as the food editor. Now I have writers across the country who cover food.

Q. What are you in charge of producing each week?

A. We produce a weekly package of stories that covers all facets of food, plus news and trends (independent of cooking) in business, science, pop culture, and celebrity. We also do a batch of recipes and related stories. I try to have well-rounded coverage that’s ahead of the curve. It’s a very competitive beat.

I try to have at least one to two stories a day, six to 12 stories a week. It could be a short seasonal item with a recipe, or a 2000-word story about a hot chef or trend.

Q. What percentage of stories do you assign to freelancers?

A. About two-thirds. Most recipes are generated in-house by two chefs who work for me. We never use unsolicited recipes. Most of the recipes that are not ours are from named chefs or cookbook authors, such as in a book review where we would excerpt a recipe, or when we run a special series, such as “The 20 Burgers of Summer.”

Q. What kind of stories are best for freelancers?

A. A lot of trend stories. One to three trend stories a week. Sometimes it’s a profile of a fascinating person, like Dorie Greenspan. That was 1400 words. Or a profile of Jacques Pepin, where the writer cooked with him. It was a challenge, where the writer had to tell us something new. Michele Kayal captured his personality, what he’s like today.

Q. How do you define a trend story?

A. A trend story is something that’s emerging in the food world. Baking is not emerging, but artisan butter might be. That story was 500 to 600 words, an ideal length. But if the material merits longer, we’re happy to go longer.

The first three letters of news are NEW. Not just interesting, but emerging.

Q. What if I see a trend in my neighborhood?

A. A trend story must be national. But not everything of national interest is a national story. Sometimes interesting is enough. Get on Google and find out if it’s happening everywhere. If not, why is it happening where you are, and what makes that interesting?

For example, we did an article on a Beard award-winning program in Seattle that recruits homeless kids and teaches them to cook. It was a local program but made a compelling story because of what they do.

Q. How much do you pay for these stories?

A. $300 per feature. Some writers have turned me down, but my hands are tied.

Q. Do you rely on the same freelancers, or do others break in?

A. I tend to go to the same pool of writers because they have proven themselves as reliable. I’m looking for journalists first, foodies second: people with a solid news background who understand how to gather and distill information, and how to present it in a format that makes sense to a reader in a tight and clear way. I find that people who consider themselves Writers (with a capital W) don’t quite have all those skills.

Q. How many pitches do you get in a week?

A. Surprisingly, not that many, maybe five or fewer.

Q. What do you look for in a pitch?

A. People who understand the subject matter and have really researched what has already been written. Sometimes we have written the same story a year or two years ago. You have to have a fresh angle. Tell me why AP really needs this story.

I like short pitches, three to four graphs. If I want more I’ll respond. No attachments. Pitch me at jm.hirsch@comcast.net.

You can also follow Hirsch on twitter at http://twitter.com/jm_hirsch.

Prolific food writer Melissa Clark writes cookbooks, freelance articles and columns, and a blog.

If you looked up the opposite of “slacker,” you’d see Melissa Clark‘s name highlighted in bold.

The prolific freelancer writes weekly recipes for the New York Times and Gilt Taste, among other freelance gigs. She has also written 32 cookbooks. Many are collaborations with chefs including Daniel Boulud, David Bouley, and White House Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. Her latest cookbook, out in October, is Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make.

Oh, and in her copious spare time, she takes care of her young daughter and writes a blog.

In an interview, she spoke about her career as a food writer, including advice for those who want to be as successful:

Q. You’d been working as a cook and a caterer in New York. What made you want to become a food writer?

A. I always wanted to be a food writer. I started a catering business when I was in grad school. Food was in everything I wrote. It was my metaphor. This was the 1990s. People knew of restaurant critics and cookbooks writers, but food writing wasn’t a viable career. I felt like I was on an uncharted path.

Q. Is a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) in writing a good way to learn about freelance writing and cookbook collaboration? Would you recommend it?

A. No. It’s a good way to find your voice as a writer. People don’t think about that. It’s just as important.

Q. As a freelancer, don’t you have to write the voice of the publication?

A. If you don’t even know who you are and what your voice is, it’s really hard to figure out how to make your voice fit into other molds. Voice has to have a point of view, the perspective that the piece is coming from.

It’s really good to know how to write in different perspectives (first person, second person, third person). You learn all different perspectives when you get an MFA.

I recommend that people take writing classes. It helps stretch you as a writer. It’s really good to challenge yourself.

Q. What was your first big break as a freelance writer?

A. I wrote for websites about food, including once a month for Hearst magazines. I wrote tons of content for Cuisinenet. They paid me real money. I could support myself if I catered on the side.

I also developed recipes for IMP, which put out recipe cards that went out in the mail, where they asked people to subscribe to a recipe club. They had bought (food) photos from Sweden, and they would give me a recipe in Swedish. I made a lot of coffeecakes and French pancakes.

If I were doing it today, I would start out blogging, because that is the path. The path (I described) is gone.

Q. Regarding collaborating on cookbooks, how difficult is it to convince great chefs to let you redo their recipes for home cooks?

A. Depends on the chef and their ego level. Some cling very tightly and want their food to be made exactly the way they make it. Other chefs are wiling to let go of it. I want to work with chefs who let me work with the recipe.

Q. How did you get your regular freelance column for the New York Times, “A Good Appetite?”

A. I started writing for the Times in 1998, doing general assignment reporting.

They came to me with a column in 2007. They wanted people to see into the mind of a confident cook who finds her way, how you get from point A to dinner. They said, “Let’s try it for 10 weeks.”

Q. What’s your the best advice for someone who want to freelance?

1. Work really hard on your writing
2. Write in different voices
3. Make deadlines, have clean well-edited copy, be nice, be accommodating. Get back to them right away. That’s just as important as being a great writer
4. Take (writing and cooking) classes
5. Don’t think that people should come to you because you have a blog
6. Intern, stage, and make yourself much more valuable
7. Don’t say no. Just say yes and make it work.

Q, What would you tell someone who wants to write a cookbook?

A. It’s hard to sell a cookbook without a platform. Really work on that. (If you’re a blogger), editors care about how many readers you have and how many people comment. You have to build it.

The idea doesn’t have to be original. Everything is put through the lens of you. Really focus on your voice and market that.

I’m still learning. Every time I do a cookbook I have a new tutor.

Q. What’s the hardest thing about developing recipes?

Tips -- like why to grate a tomato -- and recipes appear on Clark's blog (Photo by Melissa Clark).

A. I’m always humbled by what I don’t know. I try to learn when there’s something that doesn’t work and I don’t know why, especially with baking. I don’t take anything for granted.

Sometimes I make something and it doesn’t blow me away. How do I make it better? It’s always a fun challenge. But it can also be humbling when it doesn’t work.

I have a little trick that I always use. I retitle the recipe. So, if I burn the pasta in a pasta dish, I call it “browned garlic pasta. “

Q. How important is it to have a background as a professional cook, to become a food writer?

A. No one’s going to read you if you’re not an authority. You need to know more than the person next to you because you’re going to teach them. It’s all about improving your skills and your knowledge.

Q. What would you like to tell someone who wants to be successful?

A. The old Einstein quote: It’s 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration. I work really hard. Also, don’t be so brittle. Criticism is good. It helps you. It makes you grow.

Freelancer Cheryl Sternman Rule. She's learned how to throw darts that hit the target. (Photo by Paulette Philpot)

When I was a magazine editor, I wondered why freelance writers couldn’t figure out what I wanted. I rejected 95 percent of pitches.

Now that I’m on the other side, I see how difficult it is when you’re an independent writer, on the outside looking in.

At the recent Book Passage conference on Travel, Photography and Food Writing, food writer Cheryl Sternman Rule spoke about why pitching to publications is such an anxiety-producing process. What she said resonated with me, so I asked her to share it:

“As a freelancer since 2004, I’ve spent years both pitching and avoiding pitching,” explains Cheryl. “For me, pitching seems like a dark art. There’s black magic about it that often makes me feel like I’m throwing darts in the dark.

“Editors have editorial calendars, or ideas in their heads for what they’d like to cover. We writers are not often privy to this information. So we shoot story ideas out like darts and hope they’ll hit some mysterious, shrouded target. It’s a tough game to play, psychologically.”

That’s exactly right. You keep throwing until you strike the target, even when you get no feedback. You need a thick skin to be a freelance writer, not to mention an ability to see in the dark.

Meanwhile, Cheryl started a food blog. “If I come up with a good idea, I develop it immediately, put my own spin on it, and take it in any direction. The lights are bright, I can see the target, and I can hit it dead-on. It’s a tonic for the frustrations of freelance life, a life I love but whose secret handshake can be awfully difficult to master.”

Now she throws a few less darts, because editors she’s worked with are likely to assign more stories to her. “Over the years I’ve worked with a slew of editors with whom I have ongoing relationships. And while I still accept and seek writing assignments, I pitch less often.”

Like Cheryl, if you have tons of good ideas and you keep throwing darts at the same target — politely and professionally — sooner or later an editor will respond. A lot of writers give up without practicing their throw long enough, because it’s hard to keep going. Silence feels a lot like rejection.

Or they give up without trying a different dart. If you’ve only got one story idea, and pitch it without success, it’s time to move on and try several more ideas.You do have tons of ideas, right? Because the more darts you throw, the easier it will be to hit the bull’s eye.

In the wake of The Huffington Post‘s $315 million sale to AOL, two arts writing groups will no longer provide free content for The Huffington Post website until they are paid.

Fat chance, snorted Ariana Huffington. According to a news article on thewrap.com, Huffington “dismissed the notion that all bloggers should be paid, given the wide platform HuffPo gives them. She argued that blogging on the Huffington Post is equivalent to going on Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart or the Today show to promote their ideas. And, she said, there are plenty of people willing to take their place if they do.”

Sound familiar? It’s the same argument food writers get about why they should not be paid (or paid almost nothing) to write guest posts and web content. It’s all about the exposure, dahhhlings. Doesn’t everyone know that? (See this recent post from colleague Sarah Henry on that topic.)

Steam came out of my ears as I read Huffington’s assertions. But I was also curious. Is the HuffPo food section all about self-promotion? I headed over to  find out.

Here’s what I found: Bloggers write short posts and link to their blog sites or promote their books. Authors write posts based on upcoming books. A videographer announces a new project. Another videographer writes a supposed piece about health and vitality, really an ad for his new documentary.

Then there’s fake news (one chef dissing another chef; what some rock band I’ve never heard of eats while on the road) and other bits and pieces that are essentially just jumps to someone else’s website.

As a former editor, I wouldn’t have paid for this stuff either.

I found a few exceptions, where people wrote real content. Here’s something useful: A piece for food bloggers on how Google’s new Recipe Search works. And at least the ongoing collection of recipes driving traffic to Food52 offers jumps to decent recipes.

The HuffPo’s food section includes real news articles, such as how the Pork Board is retiring “The Other White Meat” slogan and “Agriculture Industry Pushes to Make Undercover Filming of Farm Animal Abuse Illegal.” I suspect this is the writing Huffington actually pays for. She said she employs 183 journalists. Are any of these people food writers? No. They’re journalists writing about food in the news. Their  editors place the stories in the food section.

In the end I couldn’t muster the interest to read most of the section. I suppose that’s the moral of the story. You know that adage, “You get what you pay for?” This time, when it comes to self-promoting filler, I’m with Huffington. I guess the bigger question is, why publish it at all?

* * *

You might also like:

• Putting the Free in Freelance
• Giving Recipes Away a Big Subject at IFBC
• Is Lower Pay for Web Writing Defensible?

While at a doctor’s office last week, I read  an editor’s letter in Conde Nast Traveler, about the importance of telling readers the truth. I tore it out (sorry) and brought it to my desk to ponder.

I started out thinking her credo was noble, but then lost out to cynicism.

Editor Klara Glowczewska invoked the words of the founder in her editorial: “We are wholly independent. We pay our way. We have no hidden obligations. We have no higher obligation than the one to you: to provide truth in travel.”

This philosophy, she wrote, is even more relevant now, “with the proliferation on the Web and in other digital formats of travel advice from thousands of unexamined sources, a tide of unfiltered bits of data masquerading as reliable guidance and clamoring for our attention.” Translation: she doesn’t respect web writers.

She’s tough on freelancers. They can’t even fly at a “discounted rate.” “If we discover that a reporter has accepted favors while on assignment,” she writes, “…that person can no longer work for this magazine.” Traveler correspondents must always be anonymous, too. “If we were to accept favors, our views and recommendations would lack authority — and we pride ourselves on being authoritative,” the editor concludes.

Okay great. Now, how does this mission apply to the content? Therein lies the problem. All these ethics give way to relentless boosterism. It’s easy to be truthful if you’re only going to say nice things. And that is how our business works. We write about what we like, whether books, travel, food, or products. We promote.

Can you imagine the cover blurbs of Traveler if some of the real stories came out?

• Where Not to Stay in Venice
• Caribbean Islands to Avoid
• Five Awful Days in Britain.

Who would advertise? Who would buy it? So really, how truthful is it when you don’t tell the whole story?

The bottom line is that we writers can function truthfully without getting all our expenses covered (even though we’d love that) and we don’t have to be anonymous. We go to conferences, press events, restaurant openings, and educational seminars put on by companies. It’s not a problem. Because we are almost always positive in our stories — extolling the greatness of a food truck, a baking technique, a restaurant, a chef — the stakes are very low.

You might also like:

• Freebie or For Review: What’s the Difference?
• Food Writer Busted on Free Wedding Meal
• Separating Hype, Opinion and Journalism

That's me, barely visible on the left, talking in the demonstration kitchen of Kendall College in Chicago. My book, Will Write for Food, came out in July and I'm still in promotion mode.

At a recent talk at a culinary school in Chicago, I told the audience of food writers about an outrageous request a company made of a food blogger, showing that food bloggers aren’t taken seriously when it comes to pay. A woman raised her hand and asked whether to omit that she is a food blogger when pitching a publication for a story.

“That depends,” I responded. “Are you already established in print?”

She said she was. And then I thought: This woman in the audience is brilliant. Because she will be taken more seriously and offered more money than if she says she is a blogger.

Signing books after the talk. That's Scott Warner on my right, program chair of the Culinary Historians of Chicago, host of my talk.

How do I know this? Print publications sometimes ask bloggers to work for free. And while many print food writers have started food blogs to stay current, saying so might backfire on them. Award-winning writer David Leite explained in the comments section of a previous post:

“I think the crux of the issue is the word ‘blogger,” he wrote. “These days, my name’s not appearing in magazines or newspapers as much… Somehow because I’m a blogger—even one with a decade-long tenure in print media—I’m a cheap commodity.”

So if you’ve written for print and you want to be paid as you were before, leave the word “blogger” out of your query letter. Do you agree?

p.s. If you’re wondering about the talk, please listen to the podcast on Chicago Public Radio.

Photos by Amos Gil

James Oseland, Saveur magazine editor-in-chief

Wondering whether to pitch Saveur magazine? If you’ve never written for the publication before, you’re in luck, says Editor-in-Chief James Osland. In a recent phone interview, he estimated that some 60 to 80 percent of Saveur is freelanced. Of that amount, he said at least 50 percent is not from regular contributing editors.

So, if you do the math, that means 30 to 40 percent of Saveur’s food writing is written by new writers. Moreover, new writers don’t have to pitch a small story first.

“No,” Oseland  reiterates when I express surprise. “You don’t have to break in at the front of the book. I’ll take a feature.”

Saveur has only nine issues per year, with an average of 72 to 74 pages to fill per issue. That’s three or four features, four to five departments, and four to five shorter pieces in Fare, a department at the front. ”We don’t have a lot of real estate,” Oseland admits. “Sometimes you have to choose stories that go well together. I wish it wasn’t finite, but alas it is, so we have to be judicious.”

One Long Communal Story Meeting

The way to get into Saveur is to pitch (an email to the editors that explains the story, why you’d like to write it, and why you are qualified to do so.) It doesn’t matter which editor you email, so send your pitch to edit@saveur.com. Assuming it’s not instantly rejected, an editor will circulate it in a pitch meeting.

“Every couple of weeks we have a gigantic pitch powwow, in which we bring to the table pitches that have been circulating,” explains Oseland. Two to three days before, the editors receive a thick packet containing hundreds of story ideas. Together, the editors decide on stories at this meeting. “No one editor can say yes to a story,” Oseland says. “It’s like the 1973 Vermont commune of magazines.”

Adding to the editors’ workload is the notion that a pitch letter doesn’t have to be short. “A pitch can be anywhere from a few words to a few pages,” says Oseland. “There is no one perfect size or shape. It all boils down to the effectiveness of the story.”

Effective Story Ideas Defined, Sort Of

And what, I asked him, is an effective story idea? ”A writer can be pitching a story that’s not at face value the freshest story on the block, but if there’s a really fresh and vigorous way that they’re assuring us they’re going to tell that story, we’re smitten,” Oseland explains.

What kind of story does Saveur want? ”The big difference between us and other food magazines is that, on one hand, we’re a food magazine. On the other hand, on the subtle cosmic plane level, we’re only sort of a food magazine, and in fact really we’re a magazine about human culture that tells this extraordinary kaleidoscope of human stories through the world of food,” continued Oseland. “Even if we’re doing a story that can absolutely be a food story – say something about the science of butter – for us, the editorial staff, we honestly view that in a grander scheme of how it fits into the panoply of human experience.”

“Passion is what goes the longest way,” he says of how he and the editors approach the content of the magazine. “I’m determined to stick to that model. It has support.”

(If you’re not a subscriber, research the magazine’s stories online here to get a feel for what turns the editors on.)

For writers who want to pitch personal essay, he said the pitch should be no different. “To my mind, what invariably works is the story the writer cares about,” Osland advises. “If writer is trying to shape or tell a story that they think the magazine wants, it’s not a good idea to do that. If you’re writing something personal, it’s got to be the stuff of the fire in the belly.”

For more on James Osland, see:

• Jame’s Osland’s website
• LA Weekly’s Q & A: From LA Weekly Proofreader to Bravo TV Rock Star
• CNN’s interview: 5 Foods I am (Only Somewhat) Ashamed to Say I Love

I’m happy and tired, just back from attending this conference. I’ve been going to International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conferences for around 10 years. Every year I know more people, and much hugging and kissing and laughter ensues.

There are the  people I only seem to see at this event. There are the people I want to get to know better, including book editors, magazine editors, and  authors. There are the new friends I’m thrilled to see again. There’s the Bay Area contingency, always large. And for the first time, there are the people I’ve got to know here on the blog and on social media. Put them all together and it’s an ever-expanding party, with tons of networking. And I get to learn more about our profession of food writing, in sessions ranging from book proposals to magazine pitching to new media.

And eating? Did I mention eating? This year’s conference was held in a total foodie town filled with food carts and artisan foods, an almost religious preoccupation with the new, the trendy, and the sustainable. Particularly, I can’t stop thinking about the sustainable pastrami sandwich at Kenny & Zuke’s, an ice-cold foie gras pop at a reception, and a maple bacon bar from Voodoo Donuts, shared in a Prius on a rainy early evening.

My job was to conduct two “Experts are In” sessions on “Staying Ahead of the Curve” and two “Night Owl” sessions for food writers on the topic of reinvention. I love coaching and facilitating discussions, so I hope the attendees got as much out of the sessions as I did.

I’m missing the buzz and the energy from being around so many talented people. Some of the highlights:

• A keynote address by former Gourmet editor Ruth Reichl, the “most famous unemployed food writer in America” according to New York Times food reporter Kim Severesen. Reichl described why the magazine closed and what she took away from being the editor there for 10 years. Michael Ruhlman reports on it here.
• The annual awards gala, held in an Art Deco auditorium with a live band, and hosted by Reichl and Seversen, friends with a “butch/femme prom-queen kind of vibe” according to a tweet by Joe Yonan, the Washington Post’s food editor. See the list of winners here. I was honored to accept my friend David Leite‘s award for best first book, The New Portuguese Table.
• A long social media session with a panel that included my new pals from Club Med, the super-accomplished Jaden Hair (almost 50,000 followers on Twitter!) and Elise Bauer (8 million page views per month on Simply Recipes!).
• A gorgeous reception on opening night, featuring the best food and spirits providers in Portland. Watch a short video here.

If you’re a food writer or blogger, plan to join us in Austin next year, June 1-4.

Were you there? Drop me a line and tell me what you enjoyed best.

You might have read in my last post on James Beard nominees that Alan Richman, a contributing writer for GQ magazine since 1986, received three nomations.

That’s nothing. His bio on GQ calls him “the most decorated food writer in America.” He has already won 14 James Beard awards, with 29 nominations overall. A congratulatory post from the GQ editors compared him to Meryl Streep, who has won twice, with  16 nominations.

Richman, who started his writing career as a sports reporter in Philadelphia, eats in restaurants as his main job. In one year he might dine in Bangkok; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Paris; Beijing; Los Angeles; and New Haven, Connecticut.

He’s a master of the long form, but it must be relative. In an interview with Chow, Richman bemoans its demise.”We’re starting to lose something by stories getting so short,” he said. “I fully understand you can no longer write 10,000 words. Those days are over, and they probably should be.

“But as magazines more and more are turning to the 2,000-word story at the maximum, you lose the sense of adventure and expansiveness. A great story can sweep you away. A great short story can amuse you, but it can’t sweep you away.”

If you’d like to be swept away, read his three stories nominated this year, and see what you can learn from them:

“American Pie,” GQ, June 2009.  ”Richman traveled more than 20,000 miles across the U.S.A.—the country that makes it best—in a search for the 25 best pizzas.” (How many of us can do that for freelancer pay? The ambitious complexity and length of the assignment floors me.)

“Hillbilly Truffle,” GQ, September 2009. “…What happens when—sacrée merde!—an obsessed Yankee learns to grow black truffles in the scrub woods of Davy Crockett’s Tennessee?” (Ferocious research and analysis of black truffles’ history and appeal.)

“Le Petit Gourmet,”GQ, March 2009. “Between math class, student council, and swim-team practice, 12-year-old David Fishman pursues his true passion: writing reviews of some of New York’s most important restaurants.” (You’ll laugh your head off at his long lead, written in classic Jewish shtick.)

You’ll notice how much work he pours into each story, his whip-smarts, and how his personality comes through. How would he describe his voice? Here’s what he said when I interviewed him for Will Write for Food: “I’m a diffident, cranky, New York guy who walks into a restaurant and waits to see how he’s going to be abused. I’m a passive-agressive guy who gets the last word. I am someone to whom things happen. Writers should take a a passive role so readers feel represented.”

He didn’t say anything about being hilarious, intensely passionate about  whatever the topic happens to be, and opinionated. “Buffalo mozzarella” he sniffs in American Pie, “is pizza’s second-worst topping, exceeded only by whole anchovies—no hot, smelly fish on my pies, thank you.”

If you’re lucky enough to live in New York (and you’re loaded), you could take his class at the French Culinary Institute ($1,050), where he is the Dean of Food Journalism. When asked what he teaches, he explained to Chow:

“There are three stages to food writing. There is the planning, which takes an enormous amount of time to do well—so many phone calls, so many people to talk to, so many reservations. There is the writing, which is hard. You have to create your own story; there’s no automatic story, no natural outline. The third part is the traveling and the eating. And that’s really easy. There’s a lot that’s hard about preparing, about writing, but covering food and travel is about as good a job as you can have.”

Now that you know a little more about Richman, do you think it’s possible to get writing gigs like this today? Is he part of an increasingly rarefied group of writers that will not be replaced, or can we hope to hear more from a new generation?

Today the James Beard Association announced its finalists for the annual awards. I’m particularly interested in the Journalism Awards category: who the authors are and what they wrote. 

The first thing I noticed is that most of the nominees are white men. They are full-time writers, reporters or editors at their publications. A few are freelance writers and long-time contributers to their publications. Some have already won awards. Some are book authors. Almost all seem based in the mid-west or the East Coast.

The few freelance writers nominated have a relationship with their publication. Translation: They didn’t write one piece for a magazine once.

Now, you can see the list of nominees on many other websites, but  so far I haven’t found any sites offering links to  the actual articles. It took me a couple of hours, and I didn’t find them all. But in service to you, who might wonder if you could ever write an award-winning article, here are 17 of the nominated pieces, and a little about who wrote them. ( Go here for a complete list.) 

I hope you’ll take  time and read some of these articles. One thing you’ll notice about them: they’re long. You might also wonder  what makes these pieces good enough to be nominated for a Beard award. Is it about their cleverness? Depth of researcher?  Depth of culinary knowledge? Unique point of view? Knowing how to cover a story? Finding a trendy topic?  

Read a few. I’d love to know your opinion. 

Magazine Feature Writing about Restaurants And/Or Chef

American Pie, GQ. Alan Richman, contributing editor and previous winner
Soul of a City, Saveur. Anya Von Bremzen, author and contributing editor to Travel & Leisure
The Last Chinese Barbecue, Gourmet. Frances Lam, contributing editor

Magazine Feature Writing With Recipes

The Wonders of Ham, Saveur. Dana Bowen, executive editor
The Beauty of the Beast, Men’s Health. Matt Goulding, food and nutrition editor

Magazine Feature Writing Without Recipes

Hillbilly Truffle, GQ. Alan Richman, contributing editor and previous winner
The Price of Tomatoes, Gourmet. Barry Estabrook, contributing editor
The Taste Makers, The New Yorker. Raffi Khatchadourian, staff writer

MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award

Le Petit Gourmet, GQ. Alan Richman, contributing editor and previous winner
Faith and Bacon, Saveur. By Francine Prose, author of bestselling fiction

Best Newspaper Feature Writing

The Real American Pie, Chicago Reader. Cliff Doerksen, freelancer (usually a movie critic)
The Charcuterie Underground, Chicago Reader. Mike Sula, staff writer

Newspaper Feature Writing about Restaurants and/or Chefs

How Not to Hire a Chef, Washington City Paper. Tim Carman, staff writer

Reporting on Health, Environment or Nutrition

Nachos for Lunch? Yes, Every Day, Chicago Tribune. Monica Eng, Tribune reporter
Throwing Out the Wheat, Slate. Daniel Engber, Slate senior editor
…Or Not to Bee, Eating Well. Rowan Jacobsen, author of  two books.

(Also: The only individual nominated for a food blog is Hank Shaw, also nominated last year, for Hunter, Gardener, Angler, Cook. He is a former newspaper reporter.)