Future winners of the National Chicken Cooking Contest will take home a grand prize of $100,000, up from the current grand prize of $25,000, the National Chicken Council (NCC) and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY) announced today.
“We are proud to move the National Chicken Cooking Contest into the front ranks of American cooking competitions,” said Jacques Klempf, Chairman of U.S. Poultry & Egg Association. “The National Chicken Cooking Contest is already the oldest continuously operated cooking competition in the United States and will now have the largest grand prize for a specific food.”
The $100,000 prize goes into effect in 2005. Other contests have equal or larger grand prizes than the new NCCC amount of $100,000, but a variety of foods may be entered in other contests, and the NCCC will offer the largest grand prize for a contest devoted to a particular food.
Jerry Lane, Chairman of the NCC Marketing Committee, said the chicken industry values the cooking contest as an indicator of culinary trends.
“The contest stimulates thousands of amateur cooks across the country to develop new recipes for chicken,” he said, “giving the industry valuable insight into the way America is cooking today. We are confident that this new grand prize will bring the National Chicken Cooking Contest up to date and will attract more interest and more entries from America’s chicken cooks. By raising the grand prize to $100,000, we are expressing our confidence that America’s cooks will continue to develop new and exciting ways to cook chicken.”
Under the new prize structure, runner-up contestants will receive $10,000 for second place, $5,000 for third, $2,000 for fourth, and $1,000 for fifth place.
The announcement was made the day before the 45th Cook-Off of the NCCC, scheduled for Friday, May 30, in Baltimore. The winner will receive the current grand prize of $25,000. The entry period for the next Cook-Off, to be held in the spring of 2005, will open in January 2004.
