Jeff Miers is a music journalist and musician living and working in Buffalo NY. He is also the Executive Director of the Sportsmens Americana Music Foundation and was the Music Critic for The Buffalo News from 2002 to 2023. Miers was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2008, and was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2014, as both journalist and musician.

During his time at the Buffalo News, he wrote weekly columns, feature stories, disc reviews, concert reviews, musician profiles, Q&As, music and arts enterprise pieces, local, national and international music trend stories, local music spotlight columns, and breaking music news pieces for both print and digital editions of Western New York’s largest daily newspaper.

Concurrent with his journalism career, Miers has worked as a professional musician, writing, recording and performing with a variety of bands and as a solo artist and bandleader. In 2022, he released his debut solo album, “Dharma For None”.

After establishing himself as the Buffalo News go-to resource for restaurant and food reviews, Andrew departed this rapidly diminishing traditional media type to continue his work independently. He has dedicated himself to reporting on high quality traditional and culturally diverse kitchens in western New York, with an emphasis on locally sourced suppliers. His weekly emails bring to light the best that Buffalo has to offer, especially those hidden gems that deserve more attention.

Andrew has been a journalist for 35 years and a writer and editor at The Buffalo News for 26 years, 12 years covering covering food. Now he’s gone independent and started his own food newsletter, Four Bites. He’s also a journalism professor at the University at Buffalo.
-The Journalism Salute

Roy Bakos is a Lecturer of English & Writing at University at Buffalo and Buffalo State University. A Shorts-Wearing, Lifelong Hospitality Guy, Roy has a BA and an MA in English from Buffalo State. He tries to teach and to practice hospitality every day. He loves to wander and experience bits of culture and living in a place with all four seasons. Roy is a proud working-class, Polish-American, Buffalonian who believes that service to our fellow humans is the pinnacle of existence.

Roy believes that cats, golf, skiing, hockey, seeing the world, sailing, cooking, eating, reading, experiencing sunsets, conversation, faith, playing music, hearing music, comedy, movies, walking around, bowling, talking with friends, talking with strangers, making new friends, the process, the theatre, looking up, and finding wonder are all really excellent. And we, at the Buffalo Deviled Egg-Stravaganza, couldn’t agree more.

Del Reid is a passionate community advocate, entrepreneur, and life-long Buffalo Bills fan. Born and raised in Western New York, he is the co-founder of the Bills Mafia movement, and the visionary behind 26 Shirts. Del has harnessed the power of sports fandom to make a tangible and lasting impact on the lives of those in need.

In 2011, along with Breyon Harris and Leslie Wille, he initiated the #BillsMafia movement on Twitter, which has since grown into a dedicated online community of Bills fans. Bills Mafia has become known not only for its unwavering support of the Buffalo Bills, but also for its philanthropic efforts, exemplifying the positive influence of sports fans coming together for a greater purpose.s here

Allie Brady is a comic from Buffalo, NY. She has performed standup for a decade and has worked with many comics including Jim Norton, Tom Green, Dan Soder, Ron Funches, and John Witherspoon. Allie has performed at the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival, Bridgetown Comedy Festival, and was the History and Sports Reporter for the YouTube series "Late Night Buffalo."

She was awarded "Best Up and Coming Comic" in 2015 by Buffalo Spree Magazine and currently is the in-arena host for the National Lacrosse League's Buffalo Bandits and fills in as in-arena host for the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and AHL's Rochester Americans. Allie hosts a Fantasy Football podcast called "Analytics are for the Nerds" and has her MBA from an institution in Boston that is not Harvard. Most importantly she loves eggs and is thrilled to use her advanced palette to crown Buffalo’s Best Deviled Egg!

Aunt Madonna expressed interest in being a judge, and of course the answer was an immediate, “YES”!

Madonna Strom (nee, Allein), originally hailing from the Cleve-Hill area of Cheektowaga, is the maternal aunt of none other than Mr. Jerry Hall aka Dellwood McGinty.

Until her retirement, Madonna had a long career in the hospitality industry. She was a friendly face “behind the pine” at such legendary Amherst-area watering holes such as Lee’s, Sgt. Ski’s, and Bogart’s. She still retains her night-owl ways, and is a perfect addition to round out our panel of judges.