The James Beard Awards are staying in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced Friday.
The awards ceremony, known as the "Oscars of the Food Industry," was scheduled to finish a three-year run in Chicago in 2017, but will now be staying in the Windy City until 2021, officials said.
Last year marked the first time the James Beard Foundation held the annual event outside of New York City.
The awards, which were most recently held at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, honor the nation's best chefs and restaurants, or those follow in the footsteps of James Beard, considered the dean of American cooking when he died in 1985.
Several cities had sought to host the awards, but the foundation said Chicago's offer of marketing and sponsorship support was too good to turn down.
