Eager young chefs from the Banbury area are invited to enter annual food competition

The 2024/25 Young Chef of the Year competition is organised by the Rotary Club of Banbury and is a fantastic platform for talented, keen young chefs to put their hand to preparing a meal in a competitive environment.

The winner will make it through to the regional round of this national contest which will be held in Newbury in February. A national final takes place in April.

A provisional venue booking has been made with Wykham Park Academy to hire the Futures Building on Tuesday, January 14 for cooking the finalists’ meals. The event was successfully completed in the building for the 2023/24 competition.

Applications should be received by the organiser by December 6.

"The students make use of a formal application form, available via their school, that is signed by their parents and confirms their age at August 2024. These are the requirements of the National Competition. This needs to be submitted to me as the local Rotary point of contact by the closing date of December 6,” said Bernard Goodchild of Rotary Club of Banbury.

“They must also submit a copy of their proposed menu, a process and timing plan and a schedule of costs for the intended ingredients. These must amount to no more than £18.

"Templates are provided and the local judging team will select the best plans and ideas based on both the templates and menu. We can cope with a competition of 8/10 finalists and the sector-experienced judging team use a marking system that takes account of the menu and templates in the final,” he said.

"Once the cooking is complete the applicants – who will be restricted to two hours - are provided with an independent presentation table to use and the content – a menu, cutlery, glasses and the dishes - are also added to the marking schedule.”

Judging will the take place to select a winner and runner-up who will receive trophies. All finalists will receive a certificate of participation.

Applications may be emailed to [email protected] or delivered to Henry’s Tailors, 53 High Street, Banbury.