The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) has announced the finalists for its prestigious 2025 awards across Cookbooks, Digital Media, Food Photography & Styling, and Food Writing. Winners will be revealed during the IACP Awards & Summit on Wednesday, November 5, 2025 at The Venue at City Harvest, 171 53rd St, Brooklyn, NY.

More on Cookbooks

Partnerships & Special Funding

The IACP Cookbook Awards continue their partnership with The Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, awarding $5,000 to the recipient of the IACP Julia Child First Book Award to support the ongoing work of a first-time author.

2025 IACP Cookbook Awards

The IACP Cookbook Awards honor authors, publishers, and collaborators behind the year’s outstanding cookbooks. Categories require multi-step, rigorous recipe testing; awards are presented in 14 categories, with one title selected by Executive Committee Members as IACP Book of the Year.

Cookbook Awards Chair: Ken Concepcion (chef, co-founder of Now Serving, Los Angeles). The committee included 48 judges and five executive committee members who oversaw reviews across all categories:

• Candolin Cook — Senior Editor, New Mexico Magazine; PhD in U.S. History
• Tina Ujlaki — Former Executive Food Editor, Food & Wine; editor/consultant/recipe developer
• Celeste Noche — Editorial/documentary photographer; founder, Portland in Color
• Charlotte Rutledge — Former Test Kitchen Manager, King Arthur Baking Company
• Dr. Paul Arguin — Retired physician and award-winning baker; co-author of The New Pie and Fabulous Modern Cookies

Support independent booksellers: Now Serving, Omnivore Books, Kitchen Arts & Letters, Binding Agents, Kitchen Lingo, Powell’s, or your local cookbook shop.

 

THE 2025 COOKBOOK AWARD FINALISTS

American

• Bayou — Melissa M. Martin (Artisan Books)
• Chinese Enough — Kristina Cho (Artisan Books)
• When Southern Women Cook — Toni Tipton-Martin; Morgan Bolling; America’s Test Kitchen (America’s Test Kitchen)

Baking, Sweet & Savory, Confections and Desserts

• Sift: The Elements of Great Baking — Nicola Lamb (Clarkson Potter)
• The Cake Bible, 35th Anniversary Edition — Rose Levy Beranbaum; Woody Wolston (William Morrow Cookbooks)
• The King Arthur Baking Company Big Book of Bread — King Arthur Baking Company (Simon & Schuster)

Book Design

• Dolci!: American Baking with an Italian Accent — Renato Poliafito; Casey Elsass (Alfred A. Knopf)
• Koreaworld: A Cookbook — Deuki Hong; Matt Rodbard (Clarkson Potter)
• Our South: Black Food Through My Lens — Ashleigh Shanti (Union Square & Co.)

Chefs & Restaurants

• Convivir: Modern Mexican Cooking in California’s Wine Country — Rogelio Garcia; Andréa Lawson Gray (Cameron & Company/Abrams)
• The Four Horsemen — Nick Curtola; Gabe Ulla; James Murphy; with Justin Chearno (Abrams)
• Zaytinya — José Andrés (Ecco/HarperCollins)

Food Issues & Matters

• Barons — Austin Frerick (Island Press)
• Meateater’s Wild + Whole — Danielle Prewett (Random House/Rodale Books)
• The Oyster Book — Dan Martino (Agate Publishing)

Food Photography & Styling

• Bayou — Melissa M. Martin; Denny Culbert (Photographer); Melissa M. Martin; Erin Quon; Bronwen Wyatt (Stylists) — (Artisan Books)
• Convivir — Rogelio Garcia; Andréa Lawson Gray; John Troxell (Photographer); Garcia, Troxell, Lawson Gray (Stylists) — (Cameron & Company/Abrams)
• The Side Gardener — Rosie Daykin; Andrew Montgomery (Photographer); Rosie Daykin (Stylist) — (Appetite by Random House)

General

• Big Night: Dinners, Parties & Dinner Parties — Katherine Lewin (Union Square & Co.)
• Easy Weeknight Dinners — Emily Weinstein; NYT Cooking (Ten Speed Press)
• Warm Your Bones — Vanessa Seder (Union Square & Co.)

Health & Wellness

• JoyFull — Radhi Devlukia-Shetty (Simon & Schuster)
• Nosh — Micah Siva (The Collective Book Studio)
• The Elements of Baking — Katerina Cermelj (Mobius Books)

International

• Islas — Von Diaz (Chronicle Books)
• My Egypt — Michael Mina; Adam Sobel; Kate Leahy; Michael Szczerban (Voracious)
• Wafu Cooking — Sonoko Sakai (Alfred A. Knopf)

Literary or Historical Food Writing (Books)

• Chop Fry Watch Learn — Michelle T. King (W. W. Norton & Company)
• Julia Child’s Kitchen — Paula J. Johnson (Abrams)
• Why I Cook — Tom Colicchio (Artisan Books)

Reference & Technical

• Mushroom Gastronomy — Krista Towns (Gibbs Smith)
• One Thousand Vines — Pascaline Lepeltier (Mitchell Beazley)
• The World Atlas of Honey — C. Marina Marchese (University of California Press)

Single Subject

• French Charcuterie at Home — Gilles Vérot; Nicolas Vérot (Tra Publishing)
• Meat Pies — Brian Polcyn; Michael Ruhlman (W. W. Norton & Company)
• The Vegetable Eater — Cara Mangini (Workman Publishing)

Wine, Beer, or Spirits

• Bourbon Land — Edward Lee (Artisan Books)
• Sparkling — Elva Ramirez (Union Square & Co.)
• The Cocktail Atlas — Chris Vola (Union Square & Co.)

IACP Julia Child First Book Award (Presented by The Julia Child Foundation)

• Breaking Bao — Clarice Lam (Chronicle Books)
• Di An — Tue Nguyen (Simon & Schuster)
• Sift: The Elements of Great Baking — Nicola Lamb (Clarkson Potter)

The IACP Book of the Year will be announced at the Awards Ceremony.

2025 Digital Media Awards

Awards Lead: Lauren Savoie (Deputy Executive Editor, Business Insider; former America’s Test Kitchen editor). Honors five categories across social, video, audio, and digital publishing.

THE 2025 DIGITAL MEDIA AWARD FINALISTS

 

Culinary Recipe Website

• King Arthur Baking Company — King Arthur Baking Company
• Serious Eats — Daniel Gritzer, Tess Koman, Megan Steintrager, Amanda Suarez, Leah Colins, Genevieve Yam, Yasmine Maggio
• TASTE — Matt Rodbard, Aliza Abarbanel

Culinary Video Series

• Mise en Place — The Eater Video Team
• Pati’s Mexican Table — Pati Jinich
• What’s Eating Dan — Dan Souza

Instagram Account

• @littlefatboyfrankie — Frankie Gaw
• @daywithmei — Meijie Liao
• @cooksillustrated — Kathryn Przybyla et al.

Newsletter

• The Angel — Emily Wilson
• American Weekender — Amy Cavanaugh, Kenney Marlatt
• The Sassafras Curio — Martin Philip

Podcast

• Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio — Milk Street
• Gastropod — Cynthia Graber
• Loading Dock Talks with Chef Preeti Mistry — Preeti Mistry
• Proof Podcast — Yumi Araki
• The Sporkful — Dan Pashman

2025 Food Photography & Styling Awards

Program Lead: Charlotte Omnès, veteran food stylist and creator of The N/A Drink Review. Honors excellence across four categories in commercial and editorial work.

THE 2025 FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY & STYLING AWARD FINALISTS

 

Food Photography – Commercial

• Big and Bubbly Focaccia — King Arthur Baking Company; Rick Holbrook
• Peelz Citrus Cocktail — Peelz Website; Freshmade Studio; Carina Giacomelli; Ali Redmond
• Peelz Poolside Snack — Peelz Website; Freshmade Studio; Carina Giacomelli; Ali Redmond

Food Photography – Editorial

• Pie — Better Homes and Gardens; Kelsey Hansen
• Altar — Food & Wine; Greg DuPree
• Still Life with Goblet — History Eats; Laura Scherb

Food Styling in Photography – Commercial

• Bake It Easy: Summer — King Arthur Baking Company; Kaitlin Wayne
• Caraway Lobster Boil — Caraway; Tiffany Schleigh
• Tiny Tinis — Campari Academy Instagram; Emily Arden Wells

Food Styling in Photography – Editorial

• Cracked Dungeness Crab with Garlic Sea Salt and Aleppo Pepper — The California Farm Table Cookbook; Lori Rice
• F&W June 2024 Cover – Salmon — Food & Wine; Chelsea Zimmer
• Pumpkin Trifle — EatingWell; Jennifer Wendorf

2025 Food Writing Awards

Awards Chair: Jenny Dorsey, chef, author, researcher (Studio ATAO; Fulbright-National Geographic Explorer). Honors exemplary food writing published in print or online across eight categories.

THE 2025 FOOD WRITING AWARD FINALISTS

 

Recipe-Focused Column

• Heritage Cooking — EatingWell; Kiki Aranita, Grace Hwang Lynch, Leila Najafi
• One Ingredient: Ricotta — Edible Boston; Claudia Catalano
• The Welcome Table — Southern Living; Jessica B. Harris

Culinary Travel Writing With Recipes

• “Buffalo banh mi and blue corn cookies: sharing a Native American feast in South Dakota” — National Geographic Traveller; Zoey Goto
• “Italians Really Do Eat Spaghetti and Meatballs” — Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine; J.M. Hirsch
• “Searching for Sopa de Chipilín” — SAVEUR; Scarlett Lindeman

Culinary Travel Writing Without Recipes

• “His Taquería Is Almost At The North Pole, But He Gets His Tortillas From L.A.” — L.A. Taco; Jennifer Fergesen
• “Inside the Arctic Circle’s thriving dinner party scene” — Financial Times; Jennifer Fergesen
• “Pho-town Philly” — Secret Menu; Adam Erace

Narrative Beverage Writing

• “How Celebrity Tequilas are Changing the Very Nature of Tequila” — The Washington Post; Carrie Allan
• “Praying Before Eating – From ‘Libations’ to ‘Pouring One Out,’ Spilling Drinks Connects Souls Across Centuries and Continents” — Good Beer Hunting; Yolanda Evans
• “The Philadelphia Tea Party” — Philadelphia Magazine; Bradford Pearson

Narrative Food Writing With Recipes

• “Italians Really Do Eat Spaghetti and Meatballs” — Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Magazine; J.M. Hirsch
• “Pass the Potlikker” — Southern Living; Jessica B. Harris
• “The Warmth of Black Traditions Around the Thanksgiving Table” — Los Angeles Times; Danielle Dorsey

Narrative Food Writing Without Recipes

• “An Artisan Bakery in Buffalo Reimagines Wonder Bread” — Civil Eats; Adam Reiner
• “Grief, Solidarity, and Molokhia” — Eater Chicago; Nylah Iqbal Muhammad
• “The Food That Makes You Gay” — Eater; Jaya Saxena

Personal Essays / Memoir Writing

• “A Cuisine Under Siege” — SAVEUR; Laila El-Haddad
• “An Indigenous Woman’s Journey to Decolonize Her Diet” — Experience Life; Kate Nelson
• “Field Notes From a Disabled Mushroom Forager” — TASTE; Sumera Subzwari
• “Martha Stewart’s ‘Entertaining’ Let Me Party Like It Was 1982” — Eater; Jaya Saxena

Restaurant Criticism / Reviews

• Dining — The Washington Post; Tom Sietsema
• The Food Section — Jacksonville Today; Hanna Raskin
• Restaurant Reviews — Los Angeles Times; Bill Addison

2025 Special Recognition Awards

These honors spotlight food industry leaders shaping the culinary world. Recipients are nominated by both members and non-members, and selected by the IACP Board of Directors.

• Trailblazer Award: Fany Gerson; Ayesha Nurdjaja
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Pati Jinich; Rux Martin; Susan Magrino

The recipients for the Toni Tipton-Martin Award and Member of the Year will be announced at the IACP Awards & Summit

Event Details

• Awards & Summit Date: Wednesday, November 5, 2025
• Location: The Venue at City Harvest, 171 53rd St, Brooklyn, NY
• Stay Updated: IACP Newsletter · Follow on Instagram · Facebook · Threads
• Hashtag: #IACPawards

About IACP

The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) promotes excellence in the culinary world through its diverse, innovative, and leadership-driven programs. The IACP Awards recognize excellence in Cookbooks, Digital Media, Food Writing, and Food Photography & Styling. The awards are among the most coveted in the food industry, noted for rigorous technical testing and the highest ethical standards.