Beard Journalism Awards Go Platform-Neutral and No Longer Ghettoize Online Writing

The James Beard Foundation announced sweeping changes in their categories today, saying that "judging will be based solely on content and not on the outlet." Said Dorothy Kalins, Chair of the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards Committee in the press release, "The journalism awards will be platform neutral giving more opportunities to reward excellent work." A new award "Publication of the Year" is designed to recognize "excellence in one magazine, newspaper, or website."

Awards can now go to bloggers, newspaper columnists, or magazine writers. Gone are categories like "Magazine Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs" and "Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs" — now it's just "Food-related Feature."

The full press release. >>>