National Chef of the Year 2014 competition open for entries

The National Chef of the Year 2014 competition will be open for entries from Friday 1 February.

National Chef of the Year was launched in 1972 and has seen the cream of the UK culinary world take the title. Previous winners have included Gordon Ramsay, David Everitt-Matthias, Mark Sargeant, Steve Love and Simon Hulstone.

Last year's winner, Hayden Groves from BaxterStorey, succeeded on his fourth attempt.

On claiming the title he said: "Winning National Chef of The Year was an amazing and humbling experience, the pinnacle of my career to date. To be included in the hall of fame alongside such industry heavyweights is a dream come true. I urge any chef with the desire to achieve this title to submit an entry."

David Mulcahy, the competition's organiser and vice president of the Craft Guild of Chefs, added: "National Chef of The Year is one of the UK's most sought-after culinary titles and has helped launch the career of some of our industry's most celebrated chefs. Winning is all about the individual's performance on the day, coupled with a demonstration of culinary skills and an impressive interpretation of the brief. As any finalist will tell you, it's an exhilarating and rewarding challenge, which opens many doors."

Two-Michelin-starred chef Phil Howard of the Square will chair a panel of more than 40 industry judges. The judges will be looking for a well thought out menu, with particular attention paid to authenticity, sourcing, seasonality, timing and wastage while offering maximum flavour, texture, balance and style.

This year, the brief is to submit a creative lunch menu for four guests within two hours. The menu must reflect one of the following three categories:

Asian/Oriental,
Modern British/Modern European
Rest of the World/Other

In addition, the menu must consist of:

A vegetable-focused starter
A main course using locally sourced fresh white fish, with appropriate accompaniments
A dessert using summer fruits, served hot or cold.

Entrants have until Friday 11 April to submit their entry for paper judging to clair.bowman@wrbm.com, from which a shortlist of 40 chefs will be selected.

The initial paper judging of the entries takes place on Monday 12 May, with the semi-finalists revealed on Friday 16 May. The heats will take place at Sheffield College on Tuesday 10 June and at Le Cordon Bleu in London on Wednesday 25 June. Only eight chefs will go through to the National Chef of the Year final, which takes place at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday 7 October.

As well as providing a huge profile boost, the National Chef of the Year rewards the winner with prizes worth thousands of pounds.

For more details go to http://craftguildofchefs.org