FAME Awards

Foodservice Achievement Management Excellence (FAME)

Basic American Foods FAME Awards are the pinnacle of achievement for the K-12 industry’s innovators and leaders. FAME Awards winners define excellence in every aspect of school foodservice achievement and leadership. They educate, inspire and motivate their staffs, communities, and the students they feed.

The 35th awards ceremony will be held in Orlando, Florida on January 14th, 2024.

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners!

Presenting this year’s FAME Award Recipients

Golden Director Award

Julie Telesca

Director of Nutrition Services
Grapevine Colleyville ISD, Grapevine, TX

Julie is an accomplished director, having won SNA’s Southwest Regional Director of the Year award in 2018. Over the last three years, she has maintained financial solidity of her budget and was one of the first districts in her area to create a cooking class for students along with innovative promotions that connect the cafeteria to the classroom. Additionally, Julie implemented a comprehensive plant-based menu rollout which included several new chef-inspired dishes, staff training videos, and marketing through social media posts.

Silver Leadership Award

Lauren Weyand, MDA, RD

Director of School Nutrition
Craven County Schools, New Bern, NC

Lauren makes every employee feel valued and purposeful, so much so that she came up with a team logo and mission statement, helping all employees see their worth. Her infectious enthusiasm fostered such a strong team, that they increased their district’s daily breakfast participation from 35% to 70%.

Silver Spirit Award

Karyn Buckner

Foodservice Cooperative Manager
Region 8 ESC Co-Op, Pittsburg, TX

For 23 years Karyn has been a champion of school foodservice, currently managing the procurement for 63 districts with just a staff of two. Under her leadership, the Co-Op has excelled in training, customer service, TDA communication, marketing, and commodity processing planning.

Silver Rising Star Award

Moss Crutchfield

Food Service Director
Epping School District, Epping, NH

Adopting a ‘Bob Ross’ style of management, Moss enjoys a first name basis with the students, faculty, and staff, growing trust, encouraging happy accidents, and tempting students to try new, culturally relevant, and exciting dishes. By making the student and faculty experience a priority, over the last two years, he increased breakfast and lunch participation by 139% and 43% respectively.

What the FAME Awards mean to us:

We’re proud to service the K-12 foodservice segment, and it’s an honor to reward outstanding leaders in K-12; leaders who are innovative and care deeply about making a difference within their school districts and communities.

Read below to learn how the 2024 winners were chosen.

Step 1: Who is eligible?

All school nutrition professionals who are members of SNA, in addition to special supporters of school nutrition, are eligible for nomination.
While director nominees are limited to receiving one Silver Star Award during their careers as directors, they are also eligible to receive the Golden Star Award.
Career changes may make past FAME Award winners eligible to receive different FAME Awards. Past FAME Award winners are not eligible to receive the same award.
All winners must be in good standing with the industry.
Employees of Basic American Foods (BAF) are not eligible.
The selection committee and BAF reserve the right to disqualify any nominee or winner.

Check out the Frequently Asked Questions

Step 2: Pick a category

There are four award categories, so take a look at the following nomination criteria and questions per category and decide which best fits for your nominee.

Golden Director of the Year Award
Leadership Award
Spirit Award
Rising Star Award

Download the Award Category Criteria & Questions

Step 3: Write an achievement summary

Once you’ve matched your nominee’s accomplishments with the appropriate award, use the questions to create a summary of your nominee’s achievements.

The FAME selection committee will use the achievement summary to determine the winners.

Step 4: Nominate online

Please be concise in your responses. Limit each response to 4,500 characters (approximately 500 words).
Additional materials, such as article clippings, samples, videos, etc., will not be accepted.

Questions? Need more information?

Please contact Deniece Ledin:

Phone: (925) 472-4139

Email: dledin@baf.com