The hunt is on to find the best pub chefs in Britain in the PubChef Awards 2006.
The competition involves an eight month search for excellence, with chefs battling it out in our series of category cook-off finals to become category champions and vie to become the winner of Pub Chef of the Year or Pub Chef Team of the Year 2006.
The PubChef Awards, now in its second year, is the only competition in the pub industry that specifically celebrates the hard work and achievements of those working in pub kitchens around the UK.
The competition is not just about looking good on paper in your entry form, as our finalists must also prove that they are the best in the business through our series of 12 category cook-off finals.
Sixty-three chefs will be competing in the 2006 awards, battling to win a category title or the Pub Chef of the Year and Pub Chef Team of the Year 2006 overall titles.
The 2005 awards were a fantastic experience for all involved and the 2006 competition looks set to be even better, with new categories, more top names in the industry on the judging panel and a fantastic awards presentation night at a new venue of Old Billingsgate in London.
Judges on this year's panel include: Hattie Ellis, author of Eating England; Ian McKerracher, former chief executive of the Restaurant Association and Egon Ronay Guide inspector; David Hancock, editor of Alastair Sawday's Pubs and Inns Guide; Michael North, chef/proprietor of Michelin starred pub the Goose, Britwell Salome, Oxfordshire; Cyrus Todiwala, proprietor and executive chef of the Café Spice Namasté restaurant group; Richard Bryan, owner of the Walpole Arms in Norfolk and former MasterChef producer and Nigel Haworth, chef/proprietor of Northcote Manor, Langho, Blackburn, Lancashire.
There are five new categories for this year - Game, Poultry, Eastern cuisine, Beer and Food, and Team.
The Pub Chef Team of the Year award is about showing how well two chefs from the same pub kitchen work together under pressure to produce a three-course menu.
Our 12 categories offer enough variety for chefs to be able to shine in their chosen areas. And entering and winning any of the categories is sure to prove a boost to both chefs and their pubs' reputation.
A category winner will be announced at all the category cook-offs, except team, which will be announced at the Morning Advertiser Best Pub Awards in February.
The winner of the Pub Team of the Year category will be selected from the four teams in the category final.
The overall winner of Pub Chef of the Year 2006 will be judged from the winners of the other 11 categories on cook-off performance and following site visits to all 11 pubs. All finalists of these 11 categories will be invited to submit a three-course menu, with the winner of the title Pub Chef of the Year 2006 seeing their menu served at the awards night.
Each category finalist will receive a personal pair of chef's whites.
All the cook-offs will be featured from October in PubChef, so you will be able to follow the progress of our finalists.