YCYW introduces new skills awards

Three awards have been introduced each for the chef and waiter categories in the regional heats and national finals to ensure “the competition moves on”.

The new waiter awards are Best Barista, Best Wine Knowledge and Best Cheese Knowledge, while the new chef awards are Best Original Dish, Best Dessert and Best Kitchen Craft.

Bob Walton, president of The Restaurant Association, which runs YCYW, said the new awards reflected the competition’s need to keep up with the industry.

“There are so many talented youngsters in the competition that we wanted to recognise their talent with new awards, in particular skills.” he said.

Regional heats

The YCYW competition, which recognises the industry’s very best waiters and chefs aged under 25, will take place across four regional heats.

The chef heats will take place at Darlington College on 7 September and at the University of West London on 14 September. The waiter heats will be held at Rockliffe Hall in Darlington on 8 September and at Nestle’s training centre, Rashleigh’s in Maidenhead, on 19 September.

The national finals, where 16 finalists will compete in a live cook off and test of skills, will be held at Westminster Kingsway College on 19 October.

This year’s panel of chef judges will once more be led by Bruce Poole of Chez Bruce, and feature the likes of Angela Hartnett from Murano, Philip Howard from The Square and Chris Galvin of Galvin Group.

The waiter judges will be led by Stephen Mannock from the National Skills Academy for Hospitality, and feature Simon King from The Fat Duck, Simon Girling from The Ritz and Jeremy Rata from Bovey Castle.

To enter, visit www.bha.org.uk/ycyw . Entrants must be aged 25 or under as of 31 December 2011. All entries must be submitted by 1 July.