We Won Three 1st Place NBBQA Awards!

AmazingRibs.com Won Best Website, Best Cookbook, and Best Photography Awards of Excellence from the National Barbecue & Grilling Association

The 2026 National Barbecue & Grilling Association (NBBQA) Awards of Excellence ceremony was held in Nashville, TN, on March 26, 2026, as part of the organization’s 3-day annual conference. NBBQA celebrates its 35^th anniversary this year, and this year’s conference featured barbecue restaurant tours, education sessions, cooking demonstrations, as well as a Steak Cookoff, Rib Cookoff, and Live Fire cooking competitions.

We won six awards in total

We’re thrilled that NBBQA awarded AmazingRibs.com a total of six (6!) Awards of Excellence:

1^st Place Best BBQ Website: AmazingRibs.com

1^st Place Best BBQ Book: The Meathead Method

1^st Place Commercial Photo: Smoked Dirty Rice Crayfish (see below)

2^nd Place Commercial Photo: Marinade (see below)

3^rd Place Commercial Photo: Red Snapper (see below)

5^th Place Commercial Photo: Smoked Squash Bisque (see below)

Here’s the cover of the winning book! The winning photos are below.

Clint Cantwell, President of AmazingRibs.com, attended the conference and accepted the awards during the ceremony. “I knew we were up for a couple awards,” said Cantwell, “but I was blown away that we won so many.” The awards add to the many accolades that AmazingRibs.com and its founder, Meathead, have won since the website’s founding in 2005. Those accolades include:

2017 – Best Technical Book finalist for the bestselling Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling from the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and called “One of the 100 Best Cookbooks Of All Time” bySouthern Living Magazine

2020 – Best Culinary Website finalist for AmazingRibs.com from the IACP

2020 – U.S. Library of Congress archived AmazingRibs.com, one of only 44 food sites

2021- BBQ Hall of Fame induction of Meathead, one of only 40 living members as of this date

Here are the winning photos, all of which are in the winning cookbook, The Meathead Method!

1st Place BBQ Commercial Photo, Smoked Dirty Rice Crayfish

2nd Place BBQ Commercial Photo, Marinade

3rd Place BBQ Commercial Photo, Red Snapper

5th Place BBQ Commercial Photo, Smoked Squash Bisque

We’re also thrilled to share that AmazingRibs.com surpassed 50 million visitors in 2025 and our Pitmaster Club remains the largest BBQ association in the world. For more information about the National Barbecue & Grilling Association, visit the NBBQA website.