NEW YORK Milford Prewitt, former national reports editor of Nation’s Restaurant News, will receive March 14 the first Industry Award from the BCA, formerly the Black Culinarian Alliance, in honor of his more than 17 years as one of the industry’s most distinctive voices.
The award will be given at the BCA’s 16th annual Cultural Awareness Salute at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Chef Michael Lomonaco of Porter House in New York, who has known Prewitt for more than a decade, will present the award at the blacktie gala.
Prewitt was ahead of his time in promoting diversity within the industry, said BCA president and founding member Alex Askew.
“Way back in the beginning, before diversity was called diversity, there was Milford Prewitt giving an objective viewpoint about something and writing about it,” Askew said.
“Walk into an event, and the only person of color there would be Nation’s Restaurant News’ Milford Prewitt covering a perspective and doing it from a very even keel.”
Prewitt, who covered many issues while with NRN, said he was honored by the award.
“I’m very humbled by this award,” he said, “and I accept it in the spirit that whatever I wrote and all of my reporting was always intended to elevate the level of discourse on the need for diversity in the industry.”
As part of the BCA’s focus on training and education, students from some of the nation’s most prestigious culinary schools will prepare the gala’s four-course meal.
Other awards to be conferred at the gala include the James Lewis Award, which will be presented to Joe Crosby of Coach’s Low Country Brands; the Chairman’s Award, to be given to Restaurant Associates of Compass Group; the Heritage Award, which will be presented to Jimmie Walton Paschall of Marriott International; and the Lifetime Ambassador Award honoring JoAnn Baylor of Make My Cake.
