Four years after the release of Participant Media’s Oscar nominated and Emmy Award winning documentary Food, Inc. Participant has established the Food, Inc. Awards to honor those who best embody the film’s message by helping to promote healthier, locally grown, sustainable choices. Alice Waters has been named as the recipient of the 2013 Food, Inc. Movement Award, recognizing her role as the “mother of American food” and her four decades of promoting organic foods, free from herbicides and pesticides.

The Food, Inc. Lifestyle Award recognizes an individual who will have completely changed their approach to consuming food after having seen the film and now practices sustainable and ethical eating on a daily basis. Food, Inc. Pioneer Award recognizes a local leader who, inspired by the film, has created a community program that has transformed its residents’ attitudes and behaviors towards more sustainable, responsible and organic choices. Nominations for these categories can be made by anyone simply by following the instructions and uploading a short video of themselves on TakePart.com/FoodIncAwards beginning today through October 16th.

Awards will be selected by a panel of distinguished judges, including Elise Pearlstein (Food, Inc. Oscar nominated, Emmy-winning producer), Michael Pollan (food expert, journalist and New York Times best selling author), Jane Lear (food writer and features director at Martha Stewart Living), Mayim Bialik (star of the CBS show The Big Bang Theory and author of the upcoming Da Capo release “Mayim’s Vegan Table”), Ruth Reichl (former editor in chief of Gourmet and New York Times restaurant critic), and Amelia Posada and Erika Nakamura (co-founders of sustainable butcher shop, Lindy & Grundy).

Awards will be announced live on Pivot, Participant Media’s new television network at 9:00 p.m. on November 24th. Winners will be flown to Los Angeles to join Elise Pearlstein for a special sustainable dinning experience.

“We are thrilled to honor Alice Waters for her leadership in the slow foods movement through the Food, Inc. Awards,” says Chad Boettcher, executive vice president of Social Action at Participant. “With the Pioneer and Lifestyle awards anyone can tell us about how they have promoted more healthy and sustainable eating so we can shine a light on their good works.”