James Beard Foundation Announces New Regions for 2020 Awards
The James Beard Awards – handed out each year by the James Beard Foundation to recognize talented chefs and restaurants – have long been seen as a top honor in the culinary industry, but the geography of next year's awards will look a bit different. In a press release on September 17, the organization announced that it has chosen to adapt to the ever-changing restaurant landscape by redistricting the regions for its Restaurant & Chef Awards in 2020.
The announcement precedes the nomination period, which begins on October 1. See a breakdown of the changes and a full map of the new regions below.
New Regional Map for the James Beard Awards
Citing recent analysis conducted on restaurant data and state population statistics, the James Beard Awards will now include 12 regions instead of the previous 10, with California, New York, and Texas earning their own individual categories.
Several existing regions have been altered or eliminated to accommodate the three stand-alone states. States from the now-defunct West and Northwest regions will fall into either the new Northwest & Pacific or Mountain region (except for Nevada, which joins the Southwest region that previously held Texas and Colorado). Five of the existing regions will not lose or gain a state: Great Lakes, Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, South, and Southeast.
The new James Beard Awards regions are sure to address some frustrations stemming from densely populated cities such as Los Angeles and New York City overwhelming their regions (West and Northeast, respectively) in previous years. Texas being given its own category is also great news for states that remain in the Southwest region since they no longer have to fight for recognition alongside Lone Star standouts Austin and San Antonio.
However, these adjustments leave at least one similar location unchanged: Chicago. The Windy City dominated the Great Lakes region's nominations in 2019 and is likely to continue the trend in 2020, leaving chefs in Indianapolis, Detroit, and Columbus out in the cold.
Chefs are, of course, used to working in a competitive industry, but the James Beard Foundation indicates that these changes are necessary for the Awards to remain "as evenly distributed and culturally distinct as possible." They're certainly headed in the right direction, and we have no doubt that the organization will continue to adjust their regions to reflect the restaurant industry's future growth and ongoing diversity.
