For the first time, Food & Wine magazine will crown a “Best New Pastry Chef” this year. Two of Atlanta’s pastry chefs appear on the list of top talent: Pamela Moxley (Miller Union) and Cynthia Wong (Empire State South).

Food & Wine has named a “Best New Chef” every year for the last 24 years. Last year, it introduced a people’s choice component to the competition. And now, pastry gets its due with both a title and a people’s choice award. In an interview with Eater, Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin acknowledged that the pastry competition may not be an annual event, but potentially a biennial one.

Food & Wine compiled a list of 50 nominees divided into three regions: East, Central and West. Each of the pastry chefs included have been in charge of a kitchen for less than five years.

Atlanta’s two contenders, Moxley and Wong, will compete against pastry chefs who have experience in the kitchens of el Bulli, Eleven Madison Park, wd~50, Daniel and other well-known restaurants.

Atlanta nominee Pamela Moxley trained at Seattle Community College and has worked at Craft, Craftbar (New York City) and Bacchanalia. She joined Miller Union last spring and immediately began wowing customers with treats like her sweet corn ice cream with blueberries and candied lemon that took the “fan favorite” title at the Slow Food Ice Cream Social.

Atlanta’s other nominated talent, Cynthia Wong, assumed her current post last summer when she left Cakes & Ale to take charge of pastries at Empire State South. She trained at Lenôtre in Paris and was named as one of five chefs to watch on John Kessler’s June 2010 list. She was also recently honored as one of the country’s best pastry chefs by Tasting Table.

Support our two nominees in the Food & Wine competition by voting now through Feb. 14. The magazine’s website indicates that it permits one vote per IP address per region. Results will be announced online on Feb. 15 and the winner will be profiled in the May issue of the magazine and will attend the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen in June.

Good luck to both Moxley and Wong. Can we have two votes?

–by Jenny Turknett, Food and More blog