The Frank Stitt Award

For Industry Excellence

2026 RECIPIENT TO BE ANNOUNCED SUMMER 2026

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.