Awards Watch: Restaurant and Chef Award Semifinalists Announced Next Week; Nominees Will Be Announced in San Francisco

The first milestone of Beard Awards season arrives next week! On the morning of Wednesday, February 17, we'll post the complete Restaurant and Chef Award semifinalists right here on the JBF blog. The list will include semifinalists for our ten regional "Best Chef" awards, as well as for national honors like Outstanding Restaurant, Rising Star Chef of the Year, and Outstanding Bar Program.

Where do the semifinalists come from? The process began in October with an open call online; anyone could submit up to two entries per category. After receiving about 20,000 submissions, our Restaurant and Chef Awards Committee, composed of critics, writers, and editors, went to work and produced the list of semifinalists, culled from the open call and committee suggestions, for each award. This list will move on to a voting body of former Beard Award winners; Restaurant and Chef Award Committee members; and other regional panelists. After these judges cast their votes, the five semifinalists with the highest number of votes in each category advance to become the nominees. They will be announced, along with the nominees for Book, Broadcast Media, Journalism, and Restaurant Design awards, on Tuesday, March 15.  

After revealing 2015 nominees at the James Beard House last year, we're rebooting our tradition of taking this event on the road. (Readers may recall that Chicago, Charleston, New Orleans, and Portland, Oregon, have hosted in recent years.) Today we're thrilled to share that we're bringing the 2016 Beard Award nominee announcement to San Francisco. The event, hosted by the Presidio Trust, JBF Leadership Award winner Fedele Bauccio, and Bon Appétit Management Company, will be held at the Presidio Officers' Club and will feature a menu by Beard Award winner Traci Des Jardins. As always, we'll live-tweet the nominees as they are revealed, so make sure you're following us @beardfoundation. The event will begin at 12:00 noon Eastern/9:00 A.M. Pacific. Here are more details about the March 15 nominee announcement in San Francisco.

The 2016 Book, Broadcast & Journalism Awards, hosted by Ming Tsai, will be held on Tuesday, April 26, at Pier Sixty at Chelsea Piers in New York City. The James Beard Awards Gala, hosted by Carla Hall, will return to Chicago, taking place at Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, May 2. 

Read all Awards coverage here.