The James Beard Foundation has announced the annual Open Call for the 2026 James Beard Awards. Recommendations from the general public, industry professionals, and regional judges are considered by the awards committee as they put together the list of semifinalists for each year.
Calling all chefs, beverage professionals, food industry leaders, creators, and more: the open call for entries and recommendations for the 2026 James Beard Awards…Whether you’re submitting your own entry or recommending your favorite neighborhood restaurant, we want to hear from YOU—who deserves to be the next James Beard Award winner?
Which Maine restaurants, bars, chefs, bakers, beverage professionals, restauranteurs that you know are meeting a high standard for excellence? To bring them to the attention of the Beard Foundation just create an account and submit your recommendation on the JBF Awards Platform. The deadline for the open call process is Friday, November 21st.
If the 2026 awards process follows a similar pattern from last year, then we can expect to see the semifinalist list come out in late January, and the final nominee list to be announced in April.
For your reference here’s:
- A list of the chef and restaurant awards categories
- An overview the chef and restaurant awards process
- A list of past Maine award winners, nominees and semifinalists