The Frank Stitt Award
For Industry Excellence2025 Recipients
Beth & Bill Walton
Southbound Food Festival is thrilled to announce Beth and Bill Walton as the recipients of the 2025 Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence. Southbound started this prestigious award to honor individuals making a significant positive impact on their local community as well as the culinary industry at large. This year’s recipients were selected due to their dedication to sustainable aquaculture, community-centered seafood education, and support for the next generation of oyster farmers of the Gulf and beyond.
ABout Beth
Beth Walton is the Executive Director of Oyster South, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting Southern oyster farming and connecting communities to healthy waters and good food. A marine biologist and former oyster farmer herself, Beth has worked across the seafood supply chain—from hatcheries to harvest—while also educating people of all ages on sustainability and conservation. Her leadership has elevated the role of oysters in Southern culture and economy.
About Bill
Bill Walton is the A. Marshall Acuff, Sr. Professor of Marine Science and Shellfish Aquaculture Program Coordinator at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at William & Mary. A national leader in shellfish aquaculture, Bill works directly with farmers, researchers, and resource managers to address both challenges and opportunities in the field. Prior to moving to Virginia, Bill was the director of the Auburn University Shellfish Lab on Dauphin Island, AL. Through his research and mentorship, he has helped develop a thriving, science-driven future for sustainable oyster farming across the Gulf Coast and beyond.
About the Award
The Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence honors those making a positive impact on their local community and the culinary industry. The inaugural honoree and the award’s namesake, Chef Frank Stitt, often references an “integrated food system," referring to the other crucial components of the culinary industry upon which restaurants rely - farmers and producers, servers and sellers, mixologists and makers. It’s all these components that truly make a culinary community work, special, and unique while turning food and the places we eat into an economic engine for a region.
Each year, The Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence will shine a spotlight on a member of this larger, inclusive community: someone who is dedicated to craft, excelling at what they do, and fostering balance and appreciation for how food gets to our tables, on our plate, and the impact it can and does have on an entire community and region.
This award is named to honor a champion of local communities and local, farm-to-table food everywhere. A man who, throughout his career, has been dedicated to the foodways of Alabama and the American South.
Southbound Food Festival is excited to partner with Mr. Stitt and his family to present the Frank Stitt Award for Industry Excellence annually to one excelling at what they do today or an up-and-comer to serve as encouragement for taking a leap, innovating, and positively impacting the culinary industry for the future.
Past Recipients
Glenn Roberts
Anson Mills
2024 Recipient
Frank Stitt
Stitt Restaurant Group
2023 Recipient