Philly aims for glory at the 2026 James Beard Awards
Seven chefs and restaurants will walk the red carpet tonight. On Saturday, Inquirer photographer Monica Herndon won a Beard media award.
Before Philadelphia’s chefs, bakers, restaurateurs, and bartenders take center stage at tonight’s James Beard Awards in Chicago, one Philadelphian has already brought home a medal.
On Saturday night, Inquirer staff photographer Monica Herndon won the 2026 James Beard Media Award for Narrative Photography for “The hunt for life-giving ‘country food’ in the Canadian Arctic,” a photo essay documenting Inuit food traditions in the remote northern Québec community of Inukjuak.
The project accompanied reporting by Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan and chronicled how residents hunt, prepare, share, and preserve traditional foods, including seal, beluga, and caribou. In October 2024, Herndon and LaBan followed filmmaker Kirk French of Penn State to the region as he screened a documentary.
“There was this moment, at the end of the trip when I was leaving, when one of the elders pulled me aside and whispered, ‘I know you’re very lucky to be here,’” Herndon recalled in a chat Monday before she photographed tacos for a food article. “It sent chills down my spine.”
A native of Annapolis, Md., Herndon has worked at The Inquirer for nearly seven years. She won a 2022 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award and Bestin Show recognition from the National Press Photographers Association’s Northern Short Course contest for her work on The Inquirer’s “Wildest Dreams” project, a mini-anthology of storytelling about Black cultural inheritance, legacy, and joy.
She previously accompanied LaBan to Japan to photograph chefs Jesse and Matt Ito’s homecoming and to Thailand for a feature tracing the roots of chef Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon.
» READ MORE: The Philadelphia James Beard finalists for 2026
Now the attention turns to the restaurant and chef awards, which will be presented tonight at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Philadelphia enters the ceremony with seven finalists, one of the strongest showings of any city in the country. Kalaya is nominated for Outstanding Restaurant, while Emmett is a finalist for Best New Restaurant. The Lovers Bar at Friday Saturday Sunday is in the running for Outstanding Bar.
In individual categories, Justine MacNeil of Fiore is a finalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. The hotly contested Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic category includes three Philadelphia contenders: Jesse Ito of Royal Sushi & Izakaya, Amanda Shulman of Her Place Supper Club, and Omar Tate and Cybille St.Aude-Tate of Honeysuckle.
» READ MORE: Meet James Beard finalist Justine MacNeil
Philadelphia already has one James Beard honor secured this year.
In February, Center City’s Oyster House received a James Beard America’s Classics Award, recognizing restaurants with timeless appeal and deep roots in their communities.
