Hawksworth Scholarship Young Chefs Competition Seeks Entrants

VANCOUVER — Applications are being accepted for young Canadian chefs looking to win $10,000 in a national culinary competition.

 

Entrants to the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship Foundation competition, who must be under age 28 and working full-time in a professional kitchen, must create a main-course recipe using ingredients specified in a pantry found in the online application.

 

They must include a timeline for preparing the recipe in two hours along with a photo of the completed plate.

 

Chef David Hawksworth, the scholarship founder, and chef Kristian Eligh, both from Vancouver's Hawksworth Restaurant and Bel Cafe, will choose the regional heat competitors.

 

During the regional heats and finals, Hawksworth and Eligh will be joined by a panel of judges, including top Canadian chefs Mark McEwan, Norman Laprise and Connie DeSousa.

 

The deadline for applications is April 1.

 

In the regional heats, being held in Toronto and Montreal in May and Calgary and Vancouver in June, 10 candidates compete to create a main dish for four within two hours using specified pantry ingredients.

 

The top two from each heat go to the final Sept. 12 in Vancouver, where they'll have three hours to cook a main meal and dessert using surprise ingredients.

 

The foundation, set up in 2013, is a national culinary non-profit created to provide a platform for talented young Canadian chefs to get a head start in their career.