The selection process behind these awards is grounded in the journal’s internal editorial governance rather than external popular vote. Nominated and eligible articles published in the prior year in JNEB are evaluated by members of the Journal Committee and the JNEB Board of Editors, who judge the outstanding contributions in each category. Lead authors of the winning and finalist works receive a monetary award, and the recognized articles are featured on the journal’s website, giving the winning research a prominent platform beyond its original publication. This structure is designed to reward both scientific excellence and practical utility in a field that sits at the intersection of behavioral science, public health, and education.

In the flagship Best Article category, the top honor went to a team led by Caitlyn B. Faul, MPH, RD, LDN, CDCES, together with Stephanie Jilcott Pitts, Eric E. Calloway, Hilary K. Seligman, Heidi Reis, Cheryl Webb Cherry, Irene E. Hatsu, Oyinlola Toyin Babatunde, Alexandra L. MacMillan Uribe, Jared T. McGuirt, and Rebecca A. Seguin-Fowler. Their winning article, titled A Meta-Ethnography to Determine Critical Constructs of Nutrition Security, tackles one of the most consequential conceptual shifts in contemporary nutrition policy: the move from measuring food security alone toward a fuller understanding of nutrition security. Meta-ethnography is a rigorous qualitative synthesis method that interprets findings across multiple qualitative studies, and by applying it to this domain the authors aimed to identify the critical constructs that define what it means for households and individuals to be nutritionally, not merely calorically, secure.

The significance of that work reflects a broader reorientation in American food policy discourse. Where food security has traditionally been assessed by access to sufficient calories, nutrition security emphasizes the consistent availability of foods and beverages that promote well-being and prevent diet-related chronic disease. A meta-ethnographic approach is technically demanding because it requires researchers to translate concepts across studies conducted in different settings with different populations, preserving the interpretive richness of the original qualitative work while producing a coherent synthesis. The award committee’s decision to recognize this article signals the field’s growing interest in frameworks that can guide practitioners and policymakers as they design programs intended to improve dietary quality rather than simply alleviate hunger.

The Best Article Finalist Award was presented to a large collaborative team whose article examined a policy question with immediate relevance to millions of American schoolchildren. Juliana F.W. Cohen, ScD, RD, along with Monica D. Zuercher, Dania Orta-Aleman, Leah E. Chapman, Christina A. Hecht, Kenneth Hecht, Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, Deborah A. Olarte, Anisha I. Patel, Michele Polacsek, Marlene B. Schwartz, Lorrene D. Ritchie, and Wendi Gosliner, were honored for their article Impact of Deimplementing Universal Free School Meals: School Food Authority Perspectives. Deimplementation, the deliberate process of discontinuing an established practice, is an emerging focus in implementation science, and universal free school meals have been among the most widely debated nutrition policies of recent years. By gathering the perspectives of school food authorities, the entities responsible for operating school meal programs, the study captures the operational and practical consequences experienced on the ground when such programs are scaled back.

In the Best Research Brief category, the winning work came from a team led by Eliza Short, PhD, RDN, joined by Ji Li, James P. Selig, Kelsey Bounds, Brett Rowland, Bonnie Faitak, Jazmin Lane, Rosana Solis-Garcia, Holly C. Felix, Krista Langston, Pearl A. McElfish, Juan Mejia-Otera, Lauren Haggard-Duff, and Christopher R. Long. Their article, Medically Tailored Grocery Delivery for Food Pantry Clients with Diabetes, investigates an intervention model that sits at the frontier of food-is-medicine approaches. Medically tailored grocery programs adapt the foods delivered to clients to align with their clinical conditions, in this case diabetes, and deliver them through food pantry channels that already serve people experiencing food insecurity. Research briefs are a distinct article format in JNEB, designed to communicate focused studies concisely, and the recognition of this work highlights how compact study designs can illuminate interventions with direct clinical and programmatic implications.

The Best Research Brief Finalist Award went to Samantha M. Sundermeir, PhD, MS, RDN, and colleagues Mika Matsuzaki, Angela Zhang, Jane C. Obi, Joel Gittelsohn, and Megan R. Winkler for their article Characterizing the Consumer Food Environment of Dollar Stores and Exploring Differences by Neighborhood Racial Composition. Dollar stores have expanded rapidly across the United States and have become a significant source of groceries for many communities, particularly in rural areas and neighborhoods underserved by traditional supermarkets. Systematically characterizing the consumer food environment, the range, price, and quality of foods available to shoppers, within these stores, and then examining how those environments differ according to the racial composition of surrounding neighborhoods, addresses an important equity question in food access research. The study exemplifies the kind of environmental assessment work that underpins effective nutrition education and policy interventions.

The GEM category, dedicated to Great Educational Material, produced its own winner and finalist. The Best GEM Award was presented to Rebecca Brody, PhD, RD, LD, CNSC, Anca Cunningham, MS, RD, and Jason Stevens, DCN, RDN, for their article Prairietown Regional Medical Center: An AI-Driven Simulation for Teaching Leadership and Change Management to Nutrition Graduate Students. This work represents a notable convergence of nutrition education and emerging technology, using an artificial intelligence-driven simulation to immerse graduate students in realistic leadership scenarios. Change management, the structured approach to guiding organizations through transitions, is a competency that dietetics and nutrition professionals increasingly need as they lead program reforms in clinical and community settings, and simulation-based learning offers a low-risk environment in which students can practice these skills before applying them in professional practice.

The Best GEM Finalist Award recognized Jennifer A. Garner, PhD, RD, and coauthors Jennifer C. Shrodes, Katharine Garrity, Songzhu Zhao, Emmanuella Aboagye-Mensah, Amaris Williams, Guy Brock, Jennifer Hefner, Daniel M. Walker, and Joshua J. Joseph for Cooking Matters for Diabetes: A Curriculum to Support Diabetes Self-Management Among Individuals Facing Food Insecurity. Curricula of this kind translate behavioral nutrition science into structured, teachable programs, combining cooking skills with diabetes self-management education for populations where food insecurity complicates disease management. The dual recognition of this curriculum and the AI-driven simulation in the same category illustrates the breadth of educational innovation the GEM award is intended to celebrate, spanning community-based cooking education and technology-enhanced graduate training.

Congratulating the recipients, JNEB Editor-in-Chief Lauren Haldeman, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, said that the research recognized through these awards demonstrates the innovation, rigor, and dedication of the authors. As nutrition education continues to evolve to meet new challenges and opportunities, she noted, the evidence produced by these researchers is helping educators, practitioners, and communities make informed decisions that improve health outcomes, adding that the journal is proud to celebrate their contributions to the field. Taken together, the 2026 award portfolio paints a picture of a discipline actively grappling with the most pressing questions in food and health: how to define and measure nutrition security, how to manage the consequences of major school meal policy shifts, how food retail environments shape dietary equity, how food-is-medicine interventions can serve people managing chronic disease, and how the next generation of nutrition professionals can be trained with the aid of new technologies. The recognized articles are featured on the journal’s awards page, where readers can explore the full body of honored work.

Subject of Research: 2026 Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior awards recognizing outstanding nutrition education and behavior research and educational materials

Article Title: Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior announces 2026 Best Article, Best Research Brief, and GEM awards

Article References: Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior announces 2026 Best Article, Best Research Brief, and GEM awards. (n.d.). Original publication

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: Not provided

Keywords: Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, nutrition education, nutrition security, universal free school meals, food insecurity, medically tailored groceries, dollar stores, diabetes self-management, AI simulation, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior, research awards, Elsevier