Young Chef Competition

Rotary Young Chef

This year, for the second time only we are we are running our young chef competition online. We are asking for entries in this competition to be submitted by means of a video of you cooking your entry. We will be judging this solely based on the videos submitted.

Last years winners had a fantastic time at Be in the Kitchen in Leatherhead making pasta meals. It was a super day in Bea who was amazing, giving our winners super tips for better cooking. Thanks Bea.

We will be running the competition in two age categories - 11 to 14 and 15 to 18. The entries need to be in by the end of June and the winners will be announced shortly thereafter. The entries will comprise a video of the chef making the dish and a written recipe for that dish. We will be posting all the entries on our website for you all to see, and may be producing a cook book from the entries submitted.

Prizes are to be announced later, but we wanted to give all the budding chefs out there enough time to start planning your recipes.

How to enter

Choose your recipe.

There is no theme for this competition. You might decide to go for a healthy recipe, one that uses whatever is to hand or a favourite one. You will be partly judged on how complicated the recipe is so it is probably not a good idea to go for something too simple.

Cook the food – remember to video it.

We would prefer you to use landscape orientation for this. While you are cooking you should explain what you are doing as you go along. It might be helpful to have another person actually doing the filming while you cook. You should also video someone tasting your food and telling the camera what they think of it.

Edit the video.

The whole video should be no more than 10 minutes long. It is important that you include a short introduction where you introduce yourself and your recipe. Say why you chose this particular one. In your editing make sure that you include all the steps. You may want to add captions for each step at this point, or record additional voice over to make it easier for someone to copy you.

Create the written recipe

Use the template downloaded here. If you cannot access the word version, then just use any software you like but try to use the layout shown above.

Upload your video

Use a video sharing service, social media platform or file sharing service. Examples are youtube, facebook or dropbox. Make sure that the files are public. If you need more help with this then let us know at the below address.

Enter the competition

Send the written recipe and the link to the uploaded video to secretary@rotarysandersteadandselsdon.com

We will reply within a few days to let you know that we are able to access your video and have received your written recipe. If you do not hear from us then please get in touch to let us know.

Tips

Presentation is important

Pick a recipe that looks good and people will want to eat. Make sure you include the section of the video where someone tastes your creation and comments on it (that person can be you). Give your recipe a snappy name and don't forget to tell us why you love it!

Use multiple angles for your video

If you are able to, have a couple of cameras going – one on close up and one from a distance so that you can cut from one to the other when you edit. You may need to cook the food a couple of times to get all the shots you need. Do make sure you have video for each step of your recipe.

Edit your video well

Make use of humour, captions and voice over to ensure that the audience are entertained as well as informed. Don’t have long periods where we are just watching something cook, you should be doing something and talking most of the time. On the other hand, don’t cut too much out – make sure viewers have enough time to appreciate what you are doing at each step.

Think about the Judging Criteria

Our expert judges will be judging you on the actual recipe and on the quality of the video you produced. For the recipe, it will be important that the recipe is not too simple, that it met the stated theme and that it appeared to be cooked well. The judges will also be looking at your written recipe to award marks in this section.

For the video, marks will be awarded for having a video that is entertaining, clear and well structured. They will consider your use of camera angles, humour and captions / voice overs. They will also form a judgment about how easy it would be for someone else to create your dish just by watching the video.