Mike Sula named a finalist for a 2009 Beard Award

I just heard this news and all I can say that is most definitely a well-earned honor. Sula is the quintessential journalist; with amazing communication skills and an incomparable, focused passion.

The nomination is in the Mulitmedia Food Journalism category for his impressive, multi-installment feature: The Whole Hog Project, which documents the the Mulefoot hog breed, which is being brought back from the verge of extinction.

Congrats, Mike, on a job well-done and this well-deserved honor.

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A complete list of this year's finalists can be found here.

Wow - nice job, Mike!

Fantastic news and well deserved!

Congratulations Mr. Sula.

Wee-Hoo! Awesome!

I'll add to the chorus of congratulations for a well-deserved nomination. I don't seek out a lot of journalists' work, but when Mike Sula's name is attached, I try to be first in line to read.

Sincere congrats to Sula, one of the finest food writers in the country, and long-deserving of such recognition.

Note that this is a multimedia award, and some of the video media that's being recognized was provided by MikeG and his Sky Full of Bacon podcasts.

Thanks you all. I hasten to point out that I share this honor with my collaborator Mr. Mike Gebert whose excellent Sky Full of Bacon videos got us halfway there.

http://www.vimeo.com/2215124

http://www.vimeo.com/2254342

I'm humbled and honored.

edited for punctuation--sheesh

I'm anonymously (at least in the bare listing the Beard people put up) humbled and honored too.

Anyway, thanks Mike Sula for setting it straight by putting the multi in multimedia here, and for inviting me to chase pigs with you in the home stretch of a great series.

I never miss Sula's stuff in The Reader. Well deserved. Congrats to you, Mike (and Mike).

Congratulations! A great honor, well deserved. This was one of the best pieces of food media put together in a long time and it deserves the credit.

Best
Michael

Way to go both Mikes!!

The hell with the honor to be nominated stuff too, I hope you win.

Congratulations to the Mikes! This is certainly a very well-deserved honor. Will you be attending the New York gala? We'll certainly have our fingers crossed, rooting for you.

I enjoyed reading the thoughtful and thorough articles, dining at the memorable Blackbird pig dinner, and viewing the educational, entertaining video. For those of us who were fortunate enough to witness your and Paul Kahan's speeches at the Blackbird dinner, there is no doubt about the passion brought to this project. I can't wait to see what's next.

Good luck,

Ronna

Congratulations to Mr. Sula. This is a long deserved honor!

Don't know what happened to my first two posts here. Honoring Mr. Sula is proving more difficult than anticipated. Still, a well-deserved honored. Great job, Mike; we're proud of you!

Congrats Mike. Well done. Wish I would have been in town for the dinner.

I didn't mean to slight Mike G, who also deserves congrats. I'd been following this series since Day 1 -- before his video was a part of it -- which is why I didn't initially think to include him in my mention.

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Well deserved, both Mikes! While it's an honor just to be nominated, you should win too. I'm familiar with the entries, and your effort stands above.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I didn't mean to slight Mike G, who also deserves congrats. I'd been following this series since Day 1 -- before his video was a part of it -- which is why I didn't initially think to include him in my mention.

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Sorry, I didn't mean to slight Mike G, either. His video was a good way to see the final part of the project and is a fine contribution, but this is a long form epic that Mike S. had been working on for quite some time before the video came along, so to my mind it's Sula's project. But Mike (G), I understand what it's like. I'm often involved in projects where I contribute behind the scenes and don't get public credit. That's fine with me, though.

That's okay. Nagrant, Ruhlman and I are going out to get hammered now, as the forgotten Mikes.

COOKING FROM A PROFESSIONAL POINT OF VIEW
Alinea
by Grant Achatz
(Achatz LLC/Ten Speed Press)

Sula, or as I like to call him "No Ruth Reichl," is interviewed about the Beard nomination at Menu Pages.

Alas, Ruth Reichl for The Test Kitchen at Gourmet.com beat Ruth Reichl for her other nomination, as well as vanquishing Sula and me with the The Whole Hog Project's multimedia nomination. We were in good company, at least, since Chicago was completely shut out-- Eng, Eng-Vettel, and Dolinsky all went down with us. Hopefully the chefs and cookbook writers will do better tomorrow night.

But "It was an honor just to be nominated," right? Or will you be putting a hit out on Ruth Reichl?

Poop. Now I'm glad I borrowed Tender at the Bone from the library, instead of buying it. Hmph!

You know, I really would say it was an honor for an alt-weekly from the midwest and a couple of videos I made for about a buck fifty in my basement to have even been competitive with the much more lavishly budgeted and slickly produced work of much better known New York publications. That's pretty cool, it really is.

Mike G wrote:You know, I really would say it was an honor for an alt-weekly from the midwest and a couple of videos I made for about a buck fifty in my basement to have even been competitive with the much more lavishly budgeted and slickly produced work of much better known New York publications. That's pretty cool, it really is.

It surely is, and I am certainly surprised The Whole Hog Project did not take home the Beard. I saw the Gourmet competition, and it was good, but I felt the committee would recognize the heart in the work that you and Sula did and reward it. I felt that way because I am a naive Midwesterner.

About Eng losing, I am equally befuddled. I thought her stuff was way beyond the very competent competition.

Damn! I thought that, like the Oscars, two Reichl nominations would cancel each other out.

Looks like it was pretty much a shutout for Chicago. As far as I can tell, The Publican was the only local winner (for Best Restaurant Design).

Reichl? Who's Ruth Reichl?

jesteinf wrote:Looks like it was pretty much a shutout for Chicago. As far as I can tell, The Publican was the only local winner (for Best Restaurant Design).

And "Alinea" the book

jesteinf wrote:Looks like it was pretty much a shutout for Chicago. As far as I can tell, The Publican was the only local winner (for Best Restaurant Design).

And that award actually goes to a NY design firm, not to The Publican.