‘Made in the South’ awards

The official call for entries for Garden & Gun’s thirteenth annual Made in the South Awards is open through June 15. The magazine is seeking Southern-made product entries in six categories: Food, Drink, Home, Style, Outdoors, and Crafts. The overall winner receives a $10,000 cash prize and is prominently featured alongside the other category winners and runners-up in the magazine’s December 2022/January 2023 issue, which hits newsstands in November 2022.

Garden & Gun is proud to announce Explore Asheville as the presenting partner of the 2022 Made in the South Awards. In November, Asheville will act as the creative epicenter for this year’s competition, and Explore Asheville will join Garden & Gun to host a multiday celebration of the city’s creativity. The Spirit of Asheville event (November 13–15) will feature curated tours of local galleries, studios, and other creative spaces with G&G editors and staff, as well as unique experiences of the city’s artful food and drink scene. On Monday, November 14, there will be a celebratory dinner for the overall winner and category winners of this year’s Made in the South Awards, to which guests of the Spirit of Asheville experience are also invited.

This year’s Made in the South Awards program will feature a new sustainability award, given to an artist or innovator leading the way with not only a noteworthy product, but also responsible production, conservation awareness, and locally driven production. Together with Explore Asheville, G&G has incorporated this important new element into the competition to highlight and advocate for conservation in the South and beyond.

“We are delighted to welcome guests to our Blue Ridge Mountain city this fall for the Spirit of Asheville celebration. Honoring the passion and inspiration of Southern creatives—especially here in our own vibrant community—is at the heart of our collaboration with Garden & Gun,” says Victoria Isley, president and CEO of Explore Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau. “This event will also allow us to shine a spotlight on the people and independent businesses that help foster Asheville’s artistic vibe and inventive soul.”

Garden & Gun created the Made in the South Awards in 2010 to celebrate and encourage Southern craftsmanship, and to recognize the best Southern-made products on the market. Each year, G&G’s editorial team selects industry experts from across the country to be judges. This program has become a vital part of the magazine’s identity and has proved time and again that Southern creativity and innovation are indeed alive and well.

“The Made in the South Awards has been an incredible vehicle for discovering some of the region’s most talented makers, designers, artisans, and small business owners, and has become a cornerstone of Garden & Gun,” says David DiBenedetto, senior vice president and editor in chief of the magazine. “Over the past thirteen years, it’s been a true joy to witness the profound creativity this program brings to light, and we are excited to seek out even more trailblazers this year.”

The 2022 Made in the South Awards judges are:

·       Al Roker (New York, NY): For twenty-six years, he’s been waking up with America as a host of NBC’s Today show, but if you scroll through Al Roker’s Instagram it’s clear the award-winning weatherman is passionate about food. As the host of “Cold Cuts” on TODAY.com, he interviews friends, including Martha Stewart and the late Bob Saget, about life and, yes, sandwiches. And this past fall, he launched the Thanksgiving-themed top-ten podcast “Cooking Up a Storm.” (FOOD)

·       Wayne Curtis (New Orleans, LA): The New Orleans–based author of And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, Wayne Curtis puts his encyclopedic cocktail and spirits knowledge to good use as the drinks columnist for Garden & Gun, musing on a range from a surprising peanut butter whiskey to Jägermeister’s return to respectability. His award-winning work has also appeared in national publications such as The Imbibe, Wired, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among others. (DRINK)

·       Charlotte Moss (New York, NY): Following a stint on Wall Street in the late 1970s, Charlotte Moss launched a wildly successful career in interior design that has spanned more than three decades. The celebrated designer is revered for her timeless aesthetic defined by layers of texture and color, as well as for her signature Southern warmth, rooted in her Virginia childhood. Moss, also a prolific writer, has published eleven design books to date. Her newest, Home: A Celebration, which benefits No Kid Hungry, hit shelves this past fall. (HOME)

·       Mignonne Gavigan (New York, NY): Mignonne “Maggie” Gavigan was raised in North Carolina, but her namesake accessories brand was born on the streets of SoHo. After fastening a beaded scrap of vintage fabric around her neck, she was stopped on the street in the New York neighborhood by envious strangers curious to know where she had found the unique necklace. Seven years later, she and a team that includes partners in India and Asia began Mignonne Gavigan, a sophisticated but playful line of colorful handmade designs, from beaded scarf necklaces to statement earrings, inspired by Gavigan’s love of art, nature, architecture, and textiles. (STYLE)

·       Connie and Alex Matisse (Asheville, NC): Founded by Connie and Alex Matisse, along with fellow potter John Vigeland, cult ceramics brand East Fork had humble beginnings. The trio began shaping, firing, and selling their durable stoneware on an old tobacco farm in Madison County, North Carolina in 2009. But in just seven years, the demand for their dinnerware warranted a move to a 14,500-square-foot Asheville warehouse. The Matisses and company also own two brick-and-mortar shops in Asheville and Atlanta, and in 2018, their nesting bowls took home Made in the South Award honors in the Crafts category. (CRAFTS)

·       T. Edward Nickens (Raleigh, NC): The author of a handful of outdoor guides, including The Total Outdoorsman Manual, the North Carolina–based sportsman and Garden & Gun contributing editor T. Edward Nickens most recently published The Last Wild Road, a collection of essays on adventure and the sporting life. This year marks his twelfth appearance as a Made in the South Awards judge. (OUTDOORS)

All Southern artisans or businesses with a product in one of the six categories (Food, Drink, Home, Style, Outdoors, and Crafts) that will be available for sale through January 2023 may apply. For entry forms, category descriptions, and rules, visitmadeinthesouthawards.com. A discounted entry fee of $50 will be available through April 22, but entries will be accepted until midnight ET on June 15. Winners will be publicly announced in the December 2022/January 2023 issue of Garden & Gun, which will hit newsstands in November 2022.