Edible Communities - a network of regional food magazines that champion the current national trend of eating locally grown, placed-based foods, with compelling stories about farmers, fishers, vintners, chefs and food artisans-honored their publishers from around the country with Awards of Excellence in Publishing ("Eddy Awards") during the company's annual meeting held in Portland, Oregon last week.

Edible Communities publishes magazines from Cape Cod to San Francisco and everywhere in between, currently representing 26 distinct culinary regions, including Atlanta, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Iowa, Twin Cities, Memphis, Sacramento and several others. With an annual readership of just over seven million, Edible Communities is the nation's leading publisher of information about the rapidly expanding local foods movement.

According to Edible Communities co-founders, Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, this year's annual meeting was a highlight of their collective publishing careers. "Each of our magazines is doing an outstanding job of providing consumers with valuable information about local foods. They're full of well-written and visually appealing articles that make a compelling case for why people everywhere should know where their food comes from," said Topalian.

Edible Communities awarded ten "Eddy" Awards for excellence in publishing for 2006, in eight categories, as well as a special award for Outstanding Community Service, named The Langeland Award, for Doug and Dianne Langeland, publishers of Edible Cape Cod and the first recipients of this ongoing annual award. The winners and categories for this year's awards were:

2007 BEST EDITORIAL FEATURE LENGTH (category tied)
"An Interview with Paula Wolfert," written by Bruce Cole, publisher/editor of Edible San Francisco, and "Shlepping Seltzer," written by Rachel Wharton, contributing writer to Edible Brooklyn.

2007 BEST EDITORIAL SHORTER LENGTH
Written by Marilee Foster, contributing writer to Edible East End, for her ongoing column: "Farm Girl Angst."

2007 BEST COLUMN NATIONAL FOCUS
Written by Michael Ruhlman, author of The Reach of a Chef: Beyond the Kitchen (2006), for his article entitled: "Voting Independent: Your Local Grocer Can Save the World."

2007 BEST COLUMN CREATION (category tied)
"The Brooklyn Fridge," created by Gabrielle Langholtz, editor, Edible Brooklyn, and "Edible Traditions," created by Michelle Hueser and Carol Banks, editor and publisher of Edible Twin Cities.

2007 BEST E-NEWSLETTER OR WEBSITE FEATURE
Edible Cape Cod's bi-monthly E-newsletter.

2007 BEST COVER Edible Santa Fe Summer 2006. Photographer: Carole Topalian.

2007 BEST CREATIVE IDEA
Robert Manning, publisher of Edible Lowcountry and Edible Atlanta for his Advertising Sales Catalogue, which is now being used by all Edible Communities publishers nationwide.

2007 BEST ADVERTISEMENT
Whole Foods Market advertisement, Fall 2006 issue, Edible Brooklyn. Ad copy reads: "How good is the food that comes from Brooklyn? Let's just say the Dodgers haven't had a decent meal since 1957."

2007 THE LANGELAND AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY SERVICE
Awarded for the first time in 2006 to Edible Cape Cod publishers Doug and Dianne Langeland, and named for them, this award is now a permanent Edible Communities award to be given annually to the publisher who provides their local food community with the most community service. Since they began publishing Edible Cape Codin the summer of 2004, the Langelands have held Board positions for local food events and farmers markets, helped establish the Cape Land & Sea Harvest (CLASH), an annual three-day event that takes place in the fall, participated in The Night of 100 Wines, Taste of the Cape, host an annual Growers & Chefs Collaborative, and in October of last year, they received the Best New Business Award for a business three years or younger from the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce at its annual members meeting.