Awards have been abundant for Frasca Food and Wine and its founders, Bobby Stuckey and Lachlan McKinnon-Patterson, since the Boulder restaurant’s launch in 2004. The James Beard Foundation has been particularly generous (Frasca is a finalist in this year’s Outstanding Restaurant category and has won three previous awards), and there are also the Michelin star it received in 2023 and 2024.

But a new honor is giving Stuckey a chance to not just accept an accolade for himself and his restaurant, but to use his prominence in the hospitality industry to help first-generation college students pay for their educations. On Friday, May 16, Stuckey was named the 11th recipient of the Julia Child Award, given out annually by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts in Santa Barbara, California, to an “individual or team who has made a profound and significant difference in the way America cooks, eats, and drinks.” The award comes with a $50,000 grant, which is donated to a food- or education-based organization selected by the winner.

Stuckey and his wife, Danette, are using the monetary award to fund the Bobby and Dannette Stuckey Endowed Scholarship for students at the School of Hospitality at Northern Arizona University (NAU), Stuckey’s alma mater. The scholarship provides funding to NAU hospitality students who are the first in their family to attend college and who maintain a GPA of at least 2.5.

The selection committee chose Stuckey for his commitment to education, excellence, and hospitality as well as his mentorship of others in the industry. Stuckey also helped found the nationwide Independent Restaurant Coalition (IRC); the Julia Child Foundation’s chairman, Eric Spivey, says that the IRC’s mission to advocate for the survival and success of small food and beverage establishments aligns well with the values of his organization’s namesake.

The award is particularly meaningful to Stuckey because of his fond memories of watching Childs’ TV show in the ’70s and ’80s and eventually meeting her, as a restaurant professional in Aspen and Yountville, California, before opening Frasca. “I got to take care of Julia when I was at the Little Nell and the French Laundry,” he says, noting her impact on American culinary culture and her joy in sharing food and wine. “It’s one of my greatest experiences.”

Stuckey joins a distinguished group of restaurant luminaries—Jacques Pépin, Alice Waters, Danny Meyer, José Andrés—who have previously won the award. “It’s a lot to digest—I was caught off guard,” he says. “It’s so humbling and so exciting at the same time. I hope it’s inspirational to young people working for me now.”