Simple Math: All Beard Awards Should Move to Chicago
Much has been made of the fact Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois Restaurant Association and the city of Chicago have lured the 2015 James Beard Foundation Awards to the Civic Opera House next year. Sponsors have been committed, venues reserved. When I posed the obvious questions in my post that broke the news, I wondered aloud where and how they would host the Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards, which are usually held on the Friday night before the Chef & Restaurant Awards on Monday. In Kevin Pang’s story in the Chicago Tribune that day, JBF President Susan Ungaro said that the lesser-known awards gala would be staying in New York, because “60 percent of those who attend the journalism, broadcast and book awards reside in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut. For the chefs gala, two-thirds of attendees come from outside the New York tri-state area.” Well, we did a little research, and the numbers show otherwise.
We took a look at all of the nominees from the past two years, separating them into three categories: Cookbooks, Broadcast and Journalism. Then, we divided those nominees into two sub-categories: those from the NY/NY/CT area, and those from elsewhere in the country. This past year, the numbers show a very different story. In the Book category, there were 47 nominees. 13 (28%) were from NY/CT/NJ, while 34 (72%) were from elsewhere. In the Broadcast category, there were 23 nominees in total, 9 (23%) were from NY/CT/NJ, while 14 (61%) came from elsewhere. In the Journalism category, there were 62 nominees – 26 (42%) were from NY/NJ/CT while 36 (58%) were from places other than the tri-state area.
Here are the results from the 2013 nominees:
Book:
NY/CT/NJ-based nominees: 15/55 = 27%
Non-NY area nominees: 40/55 = 73%
Broadcast:
NY/CT/NJ-based nominees: 8/22 = 36%
Non-NY area nominees: 14/22 = 64%
Journalism:
NY/CT/NJ-based nominees: 33/60 = 55%
Non-NY area nominees: 27/60 = 45%
You can see in only one case – the Journalism category – were the nominees from the tri-state area greater than those from elsewhere, and by a slim margin of 6 people. To put this all in simpler terms: in 2013, 41% of the nominees in the Book, Broadcast and Journalism Awards were from the NY-NJ-CT tri-state area; in 2014, only 37% were from that region.
So what does all of this mean? For one thing, it means someone in the accounting department at the JBF needs to get a calculator. It also means that my city claiming a victory in “bringing the James Beard Awards to Chicago” is a hollow one. More precisely, it’s only a partial victory. Do marathoners finish at 13 miles? Is it the Indy 500 or 250? One of the reasons you want to bring the spotlight to your city is to attract the entire food world, is it not? If all of those editors, writers, freelancers, producers and on-camera folks are going to New York City for their awards, what makes you think they’ll fly to Chicago for one night to cover the Chef & Restaurant Awards? Wouldn’t you want them all spending three or four nights in Chicago, eating, drinking and exploring your city (and coming up with great stories and content to match)? Do the NY/NJ/CT-based attendees – who are in the minority, I remind you – get to dictate where their ceremony is held? As it stands, my guess is that the creative community will go to New York for one or two nights, then, if their budget allows, fly to Chicago on Monday for one night only. That’s a pretty big “if” by the way, considering how everyone’s budget is squeezed like a garlic press these days.
For as long as I can remember, the James Beard Awards have meant one thing – honoring the best of the food world over the course of two nights. If Chicago is going to claim to host these prestigious awards, don’t stop halfway. In the words of another famous Chicago playwright Mr. Mayor, “coffee is for closers.” Finish the job.
