UPDATED: Fried Frito Pie wins 2010 Texas State Fair fried food awards

by Mike Bullock, Teresa Gubbins

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Fried beer was named "Most Creative."

DALLAS — And the winner of the Texas State Fair's 2010 Sixth Annual Big Tex Choice fried food awards is:

Fried Frito Pie.

Whooo.

It won for Best Taste.

Fried Beer won the award for Most Creative.

State Fair officials made the announcement in the Fair's Embarcadero Building to a group of more than 50 media personnel including representatives from local news outlets such as Channel 4, CBS11, and 33; plus friends and family of the vendors.

Winners were chosen by a panel of three judges: Brian Maki from Chevrolet, and Marvyn Sylvester, Startex Power, both of whose organizations are big Fair sponsors; and returning judge and radio personality Donovan Lewis, of 1310-AM The Ticket's noonday show.

The event was emceed by Brad Sham, the "Voice of the Dallas Cowboys," who said that, "If you're from Texas, you understand about the State Fair. ... The food is the biggest reason people pay attention to the State Fair."

Sham kicked off the judging with flair by announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, start your fryers." The finalists brought their entries to the judges one by one. First up was Fried Lemonade; then Fried Texas Caviar, both regular and spicy; Texas Fried Frito Pie; Fried Chocolate ("you know it's good when you can see grown men smiling in the back of their heads," Sham said); Fernie's Fried Club Salad, which generated a huge round of applause ("probably the healthiest item," said Sham); Deep Fried Frozen Margaritas ("one of the items everyone was waiting for," Sham said); Deep Fried S'mores Pop Tart; and Fried Beer ("well, ladies and gentlemen, it's 9:40, so it's finally time for beer," quipped Sham).

Judging took about 45 minutes; the announcement was made at 10:01 a.m.

The winners came from a group of 61 contestants who first presented their creations in early August; the field was narrowed down to 28 semi-finalists, then the eight finalists.

From the State Fair folks comes the official release/description:

UPDATE: Here's video of Monday's event, including commentary from people tasting the fried-food finds:

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