Owamni chef and co-founder Sean Sherman wins Julia Child Award — and $50,000

Chef Sean Sherman, who launched James Beard Award-wining restaurant Owamni with business partner Dana Thompson, was named Tuesday as the ninth recipient of the Julia Child Award.

The annual award comes with a grant for $50,000 from the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. The grant will go toward Sherman's nonprofit, NāTIFS, and the Indigenous Food Lab, according to a statement from Child's Foundation.

With Thompson, Sherman co-founded North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems, or NāTIFS. The organization launched the Indigenous Food Lab, a professional indigenous kitchen and training center, which recently opened to the public at the Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis.

"With the generous grant from the Foundation, I look forward to continuing my efforts to develop educational materials and programs for Native communities and fostering the rich heritage that is an essential part of American culinary history and life," Sherman said in the statement.

Sherman will be formally presented with the award at a Minneapolis gala in October.

The Julia Child Award is the most recent in a slew of accolades for the chef, activist and author of "The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen." Sherman was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People for 2023. Last year, Owamni — Minnesota's first full-service indigenous restaurant — was named the best new restaurant in the United States by the James Beard Foundation.

Sherman is the first Native American chef to receive the Julia Child Award. An Oglala Lakota tribe member, Sherman was raised in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he watched Child's "The French Chef" on PBS. The show inspired him to explore his own culinary heritage.

"I saw the impact that food can have on the world through Julia and I'm excited to continue her legacy through my work," he said.