Championship Judges

Jim Auchmutey

Food Writer

Jim Auchmutey is a writer in Atlanta, where he worked for 30 years as a reporter and editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His food stories have won awards from the James Beard Foundation, the Associated Press and the Association of Food Journalists. The Georgia native has co-written two cookbooks – "The Ultimate Barbecue Sauce Cookbook" and "The South: the Beautiful Cookbook" – and is working on another barbecue book now. He has judged many cooking competitions, from the roadkill cook-off in Marlinton, W.Va., to one of the first cornbread festivals in South Pittsburg, Tenn., and can report that he much prefers cornpone to rattlesnake orzo.

Bob Carlton

Birmingham News

Alabama native Bob Carlton joined The Birmingham News in 1980, and as a senior feature writer for the paper's lifestyle section, he has written about and judged everything from barbecue competitions and chili cook-offs to pie contests and biscuit bake-offs. He is a certified judge with the Kansas City Barbecue Society and previously served as a judge at the 2002, 2008 and 2009 National Cornbread Festivals. For the past several years, Bob also has organized The News' annual best-of-Birmingham food contest to determine the top dishes in the city -- from hamburgers and hot dogs to pizza and fried chicken. He makes an awesome apple pie.

Pam Lolley

Southern Living

Pam has always had a real passion for Southern food and its history. She has lived all over the South, having been born in Mississippi, growing up in Memphis, TN, graduated from Mississippi University for Women, taught school in Dalton, GA, lived in Louisiana for 10 years after marrying, and now has been living in the Birmingham, AL area since 1994. After cooking for many years for her family and for pure enjoyment she started her own catering and personal baking company which she ran for 6 years. She has been with the Southern Living Test Kitchen for the past 7 years. Her duties include testing and developing recipes and some food styling. She also works closely with the editors in planning stories. Some might say this is a dream job---she would readily agree!

Linda Carman

Martha White Baking Expert

Linda Carman went to work for Martha White Foods in 1975 where her first assignment was to travel around the south presenting cooking schools, meeting consumers and expanding her knowledge of southern food traditions. Five years later she became Director of the Martha White Test Kitchen and Consumer Affairs for 15 years. She is currently the Martha White spokesperson and has compiled three cookbooks. She has been judging the Cornbread Festival every year since its inception.

Joe Elmore

Tennessee Crossroads

Hot cars, cool guitars and back roads treasures. Those words sum up the life of Joe Elmore, television host/producer, music artist/songwriter and self-professed “regular Joe” who connects with millions of “real people” fans each and every week. For a more mainstream audience, Joe has hosted a Nashville PBS-based show called “Tennessee Crossroads” which is now one of the highest rated shows of its kind in the country. Crossroads is a travel show that unveils fascinating people and places Joe finds on the two-lane highways of the mid-south. It’s earned several Emmy Awards and countless nominations.Joe’s endless credit list includes PM Magazine, Opry Backstage on The Nashville Network and numerous TV specials, in addition to songwriting credits.

Elizabeth Heiskell

Viking Culinary

Elizabeth Heiskell was born and raised in the Mississippi Delta, where food and fun go hand in hand. With her passion for food, fun and adventure, Elizabeth started her culinary journey with courses at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. After serving on the opening team for the nationally acclaimed Automatic Slims restaurant under the tutelage of its owner, Karen Carrier, she became catering coordinator for Carrier’s catering company, Another Roadside Attraction. Chef Heiskell has prepared food for such notables as the Duchess of York, Vice President Al Gore, Chef Thomas Keller of Napa’s famed French Laundry, and a host of Mississippi governors. She now maintains an active catering company of her own based in her hometown of Cleveland, Mississippi where she lives with her husband Luke, a cotton farmer, and their three daughters. Elizabeth keeps up a hectic schedule of carpooling, catering, teaching cooking classes, and finalizing her first cookbook titled Somebody Stole The Cornbread From My Dressing – A Hilarious Comparison of the North and the South Through Stories and Recipes. As Lead Culinary Instructor at the Viking Cooking School in nearby Greenwood, she has represented Viking on exclusive SilverSea cruises through Spain, Portugal and Hawaii, as well as television and public appearances, and a multitude of culinary events adding fun and vitality to every class she teaches.

Jennifer Justus

The Tennessean

Growing up in Georgia with a mother who worked hard outside the kitchen -- but rarely in it -- Jennifer Justus, food culture writer at The Tennessean, cut her teeth at the local meat-and-three on chicken legs and collard greens. But after a tableside education in Southern food, she headed north temporarily for Boston University where she created her own food writing curriculum with courses in both journalism and the masters of gastronomy program, a cultural study of food created by Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. Jennifer wrote for the Boston Herald and Boston Globe, among other publications, before coming to Nashville. Prior to journalism, Jennifer worked in qualitative research studying the emotional connections we make with food. While she has spent hours in the kitchens of home cooks exploring the comforts of a pot of chili, for other clients such as Pizza Hut she conducted deprivation studies with teenagers across the country to understand the craving behind a slice of pepperoni pie.

Walter Lambert

WVLT-TV

Walter Lambert is the WVLT VOLUNTEER TV chef in Knoxville, Tenn. He has been associated with the University of Tennessee for more than 35 years in a number of positions, ending as Associate Vice President for State and Federal Affairs. Chef Walter has published eight cookbooks, most recently Secrets of Chef Walter. Walter and his wife, Anne, have served as co-chairs of the Gourmet Gala for The March of Dimes, cooked in the Elegant Dining program for the Knoxville Symphony and served on numerous committees. He is a veteran judge for the Cornbread Festival.

Jesse Lewis

Food City

Jesse Lewis’ food industry career began in January 1958. Since that time, he has served in numerous positions from stock clerk to chairman of the board and chief executive officer. He has served on the board of directors of four supermarket chains, as well as Parker Cutlery and the Case Knife Company. He presently serves on the board of Noble Communications in Springfield, Missouri, as well as K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. Lewis has also been active in the food industry having served on the board of Food Distributors International where he headed up the government relations committee, as well as the Tennessee Grocers Association, the Alabama Grocers Association, and the Missouri Grocers Association. He was named Tennessee Grocer of the Year in 2005. Today, Lewis serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Operations Officer of K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., as well as President of Misty Mountain Spring Water Company. Lewis is a 32nd Degree Mason and is a Veteran of the U.S. Army.

Jim Myers

Freelance

Nashville-based food writer Jim Myers believes that salvation is found in country ham and biscuits, and that pawpaws are sorely misunderstood. Jim believes it's a sin to put "whipped spread" on hot cornbread, insisting butter's the only thing, followed closely by sorghum. He is the former restaurant critic and columnist for The Tennessean where he was named one of the top newspaper restaurant critics in the country by the Association of Food Journalists. Jim remains a judge for the prestigious James Beard Awards (the Oscars of the food world) and his work has been published in Bon Apetit, Garden & Gun magazine and in the compilation Cornbread Nation IV: The Best of Southern Foodwriting.

Brian Patterson

Piggly Wiggly Alabama

Brian Patterson began his career in the industry in 1984 at Delchamps Food Stores where he worked while attending the University of Mobile. He graduated with a degree in business administration and minors in finance and management. Over the next 20 years, Brian served Delchamps in various areas ranging from store stocking to store management and various positions in purchasing and category management. Brian has also worked with PharMor and Daymon Worldwide. For the past six years he has been a buyer for the Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company in Bessemer, Alabama.  In Brian’s spare time he enjoys spending time with his family – his wife of 19 years, Leigh Ann, and his two sons, Ross who is 14 and Davis who is 12.  Brian’s interests include coaching youth football, basketball, playing golf, hunting and fishing. One of the family’s favorite spots to spend time at is Monteagle, Tennessee at a family home.

Don Welch

WTVC Channel 9

Don was born and grew up in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. He moved to Chattanooga, in the 1960s, where he started his media career in radio. After years with radio, Don decided it was time to move to bigger and better things. Don entered the fast paced world of television and has worked for all three (3) network affiliates, eventually staying with WTVC, NewsChannel 9. He started his career as a weatherman with Channel 9, and then became host/producer for “Good Morning, Don” and “Side Roads with Don Welch.” Don is the only person in Chattanooga to win an Iris Award in Broadcasting, which is comparable to an “Oscar.” In 1988, he moved to Nashville, TN to work with WTVF-Channel 5, where he was the weekend weatherman and also worked with their midday show, “Talk of the Town.” He then moved back to Chattanooga in 1989 and continued his broadcasting career with WTVC Channel 9 where he was host/executive producer for “Good Morning Chattanooga” and where he is now the host/producer for the #1 midday show, “This N That.” Don has been married to Sammie McCoy Welch for 19 years. He has been a previous judge for the Cornbread Festival.