WASHINGTON — Cheeseburgers and chicken wings are giving way to fruits, vegetables, and low-fat vegetarian meals. It’s National School Lunch Week, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) announces the winners of its 2007 “Golden Carrot Awards” for innovation in school food service. The grand prize is shared by the head chefs at two Chicago charter schools: Stuart Spears of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School and Glendora Green of Barbara Sizemore Academy. Four second-place prizes went to nutritionists, teachers, and food service professionals in Seattle, Berkeley, Calif., Cambridge, Mass., and Wayne, Pa.

PCRM established the Golden Carrot Awards in 2004 to recognize food service professionals doing an exceptional job of improving the healthfulness of school lunches. PCRM looks for programs that encourage kids to eat fruits and vegetables and that offer plenty of vegetarian, low-fat, whole grain, and nondairy options. Children raised on a healthy vegetarian diet have a lower risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers compared with those who grow up on an average American diet.

This year’s Golden Carrot winners:

* Glendora Green, head chef of the Barbara Sizemore Academy, and Stuart Spears, head chef of the Betty Shabazz International Charter School, share the grand prize for the creative food service programs they run in Chicago. The chefs will split $1,500; the schools will receive $3,500. Both schools, which are run by the same organization, serve only vegetarian food, and students enjoy hot entrees such as vegetarian gumbo and veggie burgers, as well as fresh fruit and garden salads.

* Ann Cooper, nutrition director at the Berkeley Unified School District, won a $500 second prize. Berkeley Unified offers vegetarian main courses every day, and every school in the district has a salad bar.

* Dana Rigato, food service director of the Jewish Day School in Seattle, won a $500 second prize. All of the lunches offered by The Jewish Day School are vegetarian: Students enjoy veggie burgers, vegetarian “chicken” nuggets, homemade soups, and a full salad bar.

* Valley Forge Middle School guidance counselor Sheri Demaris and family consumer science teacher Lisa Norley won a $500 second prize for their innovative approach to teaching students in an after-school community service program how to prepare low-fat vegetarian foods.

* Dawn Olcott, a nutritionist who works with Cambridge Public Schools, won a $500 second prize for helping the district offer more fruits, vegetables, and vegetarian meals.

For more information about any of the Golden Carrot winners, please contact Tara Failey at 202-686-2210, ext. 319, or tfailey@pcrm.org.

Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is a nonprofit organization that promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.