Food Truck Association Launches Its Own Awards

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For the first time this year, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington introduced a new category to its annual RAMMY awards that finally made food trucks eligible for the prize. Ultimately, though, no mobile vendors were nominated to this "fast bites" category, which also covered quick-serve spots, delis, and coffee shops with food.

That's OK, though, because now the DMV Food Truck Association has introduced its own annual awards that it hopes will have the same significance in its own community as the RAMMYS do among restaurants. (Other cities have the Vendys.) The association has done various awards in the past, but they were usually festival-specific and included less serious categories like "sexiest trucker." Among the eight categories now: Food Truck of the Year, Chef of the Year, Food Truck Design of the Year, and Best Five Buck Bite. 

"What I really wanted to do this year was seek to put some awards out there that really lift the industry," says DMVFTA Executive Director Che Ruddell-Tabisola.

Unlike the RAMMYS—in which most categories are decided by a panel of anonymous judges—the food truck awards are completely decided by the public. (You can go ahead and vote here.) Like the RAMMYS, however, the food truck awards are open only to association members, of which there are 70. Every member was welcome to send in anonymous nominations for various awards; none of the nominees were rejected or whittled down this year.

The winners will be announced at Curbside Cookoff on Sept. 6 at First and M streets NE. The event will also feature food from 20 vendors as well as food truck chef battles and a bake-off. One food truck fan who purchases a ticket ($5) before Sept. 1 will be selected to be on the judges panel for the chef battles, which are separate from the awards.

Photo courtesy DMV Food Truck Association