The press conference to present the seventh edition of the event took place today in Milan, at the Gusto Sobrio space Iolanda Awardnational literary competition dedicated to cookbooks and recipes.

The Iolanda Award was born from an idea of Vera Slepoj and Davide Paolini, Presidents of the Award and the Jury, with the desire to establish for the first time a national award dedicated to the best cookbook and recipe book. The Award includes different categories: Cooking and Recipes, Literature on Wine, Healthy Cooking, Memory Recipes, Local Cuisine.

The Jury of the Iolanda Prize

Presidents of the Prize and the Jury: Davide Paolini, Vera Slepoj

Cooking and Recipes Award: Valeria Bisanti, Guido Bosticco, Benedetto Cavalieri, Diego de Leo, Silvio Perrella, Michela Santoro, Giuseppe Seracca Guerrieri, Pietro Torrigiani Malaspina, Paola Trifirò (Iolanda Prize 2021), Marina Valensise

Honorary President of the Wine Literature Award Jury: Lamberto Frescobaldi

Wine Literature Award: Rossana Bettini, Lorenzo Capellini, Gilda Caputo, Stefano Cosma (Iolanda Prize 2021), Massimo d’Amore, Tiziana d’Antoni, Nicola de Castris, Maddalena Fossombroni, Enrico Pandiani (Iolanda Prize 2020), Maurizio Zanella

How to participate

They can participate in the Iolanda Award all Italian publishing houses with a published work on a topic strictly related to recipes and the culture connected to them, such as history, originality, illustrations; the publication period of the candidate works is between 20 September 2023 and 10 August 2024. Judging the literary works will be Italian personalities and excellences linked to the world of Italian culture and cuisine.

Why the Iolanda Award

The name of the project was inspired by Mrs Iolandaa chef from Salento who represents all the child chefs who cooked in the square and contributed to making Italian cuisine an excellence: the Iolanda Award wants to be a tribute to this symbolic figure – since Italian cuisine is a cuisine of knowledge and figures of women, who learned the trade from a very young age, cooking in the family and for parties, the secret and precious recipes that were handed down – and at the same time a way to enhance the great tradition of Italian cuisine, celebrating those recipes that are a inalienable treasure of every family’s history.