The James Beard Foundation (JBF) has announced that the call for entries for its 2017 Restaurant Design Awards is officially open.

Architects, interior designers and restaurateurs have until 27 January, 2017 to submit their North American restaurants – which must have been opened since January 2014 – for consideration via an online portal on the JBF website.

The restaurant design awards will be presented in three categories: 75 seats and under, 76 seats and over and a Design Icon Award, which celebrates “a national standard bearer of outstanding design and design innovation”.

The judges are seeking “beautiful, functional designs that seamlessly meld the setting and theme of the restaurant environment.”

Design studios Renzo Piano Building Workshop (for the Untitled restaurant at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York), Demian Repucci Design (for New York’s Bruno) and Land and Sea Dept (for Cherry Circle Room in Chicago) triumphed in the 2016 awards. The Four Seasons restaurant in New York, which will soon move to a new home created by Brazilian designer Isay Weinfeld, won the icon award.

Nominees for all award categories will be revealed on 15 March, 2017.

The awards ceremony and a gala reception will be held at the Lyric Opera building in Chicago on 1 May. Prizes will also be handed out for best restaurant, best chef, lifetime achievement and humanitarian of the year.

Founded in 1986, the JBF aims to “celebrate, nurture and honour America's diverse culinary heritage through programmes that educate and inspire.”