Nominate Litchfield Restaurants for CRAZIES Awards
In 2024, Materia Ristorante in Bantam won the award for Restaurant of the Year in Litchfield County, and the Server of the Year award went to Christopher Hodson from Materia – whose Chef David DiStasi was named Connecticut Chef of the Year in 2023, when Materia Ristorante also won Restaurant of the Year Award for Litchfield County. (That’s a partial list not including Litchfield’s many nominees and earlier award winners, including At The Corner for Regional Restaurant of the Year, West, in 2021.)
Public nominations for the 2025 CRAZIES are open and you can have a say in which restaurants and professionals are nominated this year – as well as helping influence the selection of eventual winners, notably in the People’s Choice category.
You can submit nominations through midnight on Sunday, Sept. 21, in all categories by filling out an online form.
Submit Your Nominations Here
Info about the CRAZIES selection process a nomination toolkit can be found here.
In addition to public nominations, two other groups are key in deciding who wins awards, including more than 50 chefs, restaurateurs and past winners who submit nominees. There’s also a nominating panel that includes invited members of Connecticut’s media community who cover the food scene and meet in September for a nominating luncheon.
Following a kickoff party also in September, public voting begins, giving the public a chance to vote for their favorite finalists in each category.
The People’s Choice Award is the overall winner exclusively chosen from the voting public – meaning that’s where you can have the greatest say.
In mid-to-late November, the nominating panel casts final votes based on the list of finalists announced at the kickoff party, and prior to the gala in December, the association collects the final results from the public voting and nominating panel to determine the winners in each category, which are kept secret until being announced live on stage during the gala.
