An integral part of celebrating Good Food is celebrating those who work devotedly to put tasty, authentic, and responsible food on our plates.  On August 5, the Good Food Awards launches its third year with a call for entries from the nation’s most outstanding and conscientious craft food producers.

Seedling Projects, the ‘do tank’ behind the initiative is inviting producers to submit their beer, charcuterie, cheese, chocolate, coffee, confections, and preserves and pickles. But there is a twist: in order to be eligible to enter and have your proudest products tasted by Alice Waters, Nell Newman, the editors of Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart Living, and numerous other food luminaries, producers must pledge that their production methods reflect a meaningful commitment to environmental responsibility, social justice and culinary traditions old or new. This means eliminating all artificial additives, practicing water recycling, ensuring entries are made with ingredients sourced locally and from farms practicing organic methods wherever possible, and from animals raised humanely.

As Food Day nears, we turn our focus to honor the people who work to ensure that food is truly nourishing for all facets of our food system—from the soil to our bellies.  The Good Food Award was created to spotlight the farmers and food producers all around the country who are going the extra mile to bring real, wellness-enhancing food to everyone. All-together there will be 100 winners from about 26 states who will be honored in a gala ceremony and public marketplace at the San Francisco Ferry Building in January, 2013. Last year, we received 926 entries from 46 states. This year we are hoping to have the whole country represented. Tell your favorite producer about this chance to show how they are creating a good food system. Entries are accepted through August 31, and the form and instructions can be found at http://www.goodfoodawards.org/.

Photo Credit: by Marc Fiorito, Gamma Nine Photography