James Beard Awards Won't Be Presented This Years As The Restaurant Industry Suffers Amid Pandemic

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There will be no winners for the James Beard Awards this year.

The group behind the food industry's most prestigious award announced it's not going to present winners this year.

Four Twin Cities chefs and one restaurant were named finalists this year.

The James Beard Foundation says it believes assigning awards will do little to help the industry in its current uphill battle.

The foundation is also canceling its 2021 awards, and plans to overhaul its procedures to remove any systemic bias and increase the diversity of the pool of candidates.