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Since 2009, Civil Eats has published unparalleled reporting on the U.S. food system and its effects on people, places, and the planet.
In recognition of our work, in 2014, Civil Eats was named the James Beard Foundation’s Publication of the Year, in 2019, we were inducted into the Library of Congress, and received the inaugural Media Impact Award from the Food & Farming Communication Fund that same year. Below, we list some of our many awards and recognitions.
2024
Civil Eats won a 2024 Excellence in Newsletters, Single Newsletter for its members-only newsletter, The Deep Dish, from the Online News Association. It has also been nominated for General Excellence in Online Journalism (micro newsroom) by ONA for the 2024 Online Journalism Awards, the global prizes that honor excellence in digital journalism.
Civil Eats received four awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Former Contributing Editor Lee van der Voo won in the Business, Including Marketing category for reporting on the abusive and, in some cases, deadly working conditions of marine observers in the tuna industry. Contributor Alice Driver received the Donald Robinson Memorial Award for Investigative Journalism for her reporting on the Honduran spiny lobster industry, which was included in our investigative series, “Walanthropy.” Former Senior Reporter Wesley Brown won in the Social Change category for his story on the historically systemic racism behind the USDA’s lack of financial support for Black farmers. And Contributor Daniel Walton won an honorable mention in the Food & Drink category for his story about farmers who see untapped potential in wild tree crops like acorn and black walnut.
Staff Reporter Grey Moran won a Covering Climate Now award for Food & Agriculture reporting for their story “How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers From Adapting to Climate Change.” The judges noted, “In this stellar investigation, journalist Grey Moran shows how the program often, ironically, fails to benefit — and can even penalize — farmers adopting climate-friendly practices endorsed by the very same USDA. Following publication, the department said it would reexamine practices dictated by the crop insurance program and better align them with the agency’s climate goals. Stories about niche government policy often struggle to engage audiences, but this one is imminently accessible. One judge put Moran’s accomplishment succinctly: ‘A compelling, readable, sharable story about crop insurance? Amazing.’”
Contributor Kate Nelson won second place in Health Reporting in the 2024 Indigenous Media Awards for her story about an Indigenous-led team transforming a Minneapolis Superfund site into an urban farm. Nelson also received an honorable mention for Best Environmental Coverage for her story about how Alaska’s climate-driven fisheries collapse is devastating Indigenous communities.
Senior Staff Reporter and Contributing Editor Lisa Held and freelance reporter Ciara O’Brien were finalists in the Washington, D.C. chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists’s 2024 Dateline Awards in the Online, Non-Breaking News category for their reporting on virtual fences and a new Aldi supermarket, respectively. Photojournalist Jake Price was a finalist in the Online Photography category for his photo essay on DC Central Kitchen’s efforts to fight summer hunger in the nation’s capital.
Staff Reporter Grey Moran won first place for print features from SPJ’s Louisiana chapter for their reporting on the challenges U.S. shrimpers endure in the face of cheap imports.
Held, Reporter Alice Driver, and Contributor Aaron Van Neste were nominated for a James Beard Foundation Media Award for excellence in investigative reporting for our 2023 investigation series on Walmart and the Walton Family Foundation, Walanthropy. Reporter Virginia Gewin was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Media Award for excellence in health reporting on the Salton Sea.
Moran won First Place in the North American Agricultural Journalists’ (NAAJ) 2024 Writing Contest for News Reporting for their story, “How Crop Insurance Prevents Some Farmers from Adapting to Climate Change.” Moran also won third place from NAAJ in the Next Generation/Young Writer category for their reporting. Held won Third Place from NAAJ for Feature Reporting for her story, “Walmart’s ‘Regenerative Foodscape,’” part of our 2023 Walanthropy investigative series. Both Moran and former Executive Editor Twilight Greenaway received honorable mentions in the same category for their reporting on paraquat and regenerative chicken farming respectively. Held also won an honorable mention from NAAJ in the Ongoing Reporting/Series category for her reporting on the farm bill.
Reporter Alice Driver won the Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for her book, The Life and Death of the American Worker, which includes reporting previously published in our investigative series, Injured and Invisible.
Reporter Gabe Pietrorazio won an honorary mention from the Military Reporters and Editors for his reporting on food insecurity in the military.
2023
Former Staff Reporter Anne Marshall-Chalmers and Staff Reporter Grey Moran won Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California chapter. Their series of stories on climate crisis solutions, including a surge in drought-resistant agave farming, flooding fields after heavy rains for groundwater restoration, and planting hedgerows for carbon sequestration and other environmental benefits, were named best environment reporting (print/online).
Former Staff Reporter Anne Marshall-Chalmers won a 2023 International Association of Culinary Professionals Food Writing Award for climate solutions reporting on the promise of agave in partnership with Edible Communities.
Civil Eats was named a Micro Newsroom Finalist by the Online News Association for the 2023 Online Journalism Awards, the global prizes that honor excellence in digital journalism.
Civil Eats was named a finalist for the Insight Award for Visual Journalism by the Institute for Nonprofit News Awards 2023 for Civil Eats TV: Women Brewing Change at Sequoia Sake.
Former Senior Reporter Kalen Goodluck won second place in the 2023 Native American Journalists Association’s National Native Media Awards for his story, This Pilot Program Is Supporting Tribal Food Sovereignty with Federal Dollars.
Associate Editor Christina Cooke, former Senior Reporter Gosia Wozniacka, and Contributor Alice Driver were awarded a James Beard Foundation Media Award for excellence in investigative reporting for our 2022 investigation series on animal agriculture workers, Injured and Invisible.
Associate Editor Christina Cooke and Senior Staff Reporter Lisa Held each won OEMME Awards: Cooke for the first article in our Injured and Invisible investigative series, and Held for an article on why OSHA and the EPA are not enforcing standards to protect farmworkers from pesticides.
Reporter Gabriel Pietrorazio won second place in the North American Agricultural Journalists’ (NAAJ) 2023 Writing Contest for his profile of the Indigenous-led nonprofit Wild Bearies. Pietrorazio also won third place in the group’s 2023 Next Gen Young Writers award for his reporting for Civil Eats, and Staff Reporter Grey Moran won an honorable mention for their reporting for Civil Eats, with the judges noting, “This writer provides a strong voice to those who might be considered non-mainstream agriculturalists.” Senior Staff Reporter Lisa Held won an honorable mention from NAAJ in the news category for her investigation on frac sand mining for “providing useful details on the issue and going beyond the familiar narrative.”
Reporter Jennifer Oldham’s “As Drought Hits Farms, Investors Lay Claim to Colorado Water,” won first prize in the business category of the 2023 American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Writing Awards. The judges noted: “This story is a captivating tale about the collision of water rights, economic growth and rapid population growth. The author provides extensive information about the owners of water distribution companies and the conflicts between farmers and non-rural users of water. As water resources become more scarce, this story sheds much-needed light on a topic that profoundly affects our lives and the lives of generations to come.”
Reporter Alice Driver’s “Tyson Says Its Nurses Help Workers. Critics Charge They Stymie OSHA.” received an honorable mention for the 2023 Donald Robinson Memorial Award for Investigative Journalism from ASJA. The judges noted: “We felt this story also showed extensive reporting and interviewing, which was well incorporated into a story along with statistics and an exploration of federal standards and rules. The story did an excellent job of portraying what has been found in federal investigations. It was a tremendous enterprise story.”
Senior Reporter Wesley Brown’s story, “Black Farmers in Arkansas Still Seek Justice a Century After the Elaine Massacre,” was selected for inclusion in Best American Food Writing 2023, guest edited by Mark Bittman, and forthcoming from HarperCollins in October.
2022
Our article, “Craft Beer Faces a Gender and Race Reckoning,” received the Best Commentary award from the North American Guild of Beer Writers. Civil Eats also received the digital media award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals for best newsletter or our monthly members’ content The Deep Dish. Senior Editor Twilight Greenaway also won an SPJ NorCal Honors 2022 Excellence in Journalism Award for reporting on climate change in her “Op-ed: The Flood of Climate Disasters Has the Food System Reeling. It’s Time to Act.”
2021
Our article “Fighting Voter Suppression, Environmental Racism, and Corporate Agriculture in Hog Country” was a finalist for the Phillip D. Reed Environmental Writing Award from the Southern Environmental Law Center. Civil Eats TV was also nominated for an IACP Digital Media Award for online video.
2020
Civil Eats won the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Digital Media Award for Best Group Food Blog and a National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence Award for Best Use of Multimedia. In 2021, editor-in-chief and founder Naomi Starkman was named Journalist of the Year by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center.