Brakes Student Team Chef Challenge announces its finalists

In association with the industry's professional body, The Craft Guild of Chefs this year's competition received more than 60 entries of an exceptional standard making it a tough job for judges to select the 27 teams to compete in the regional heats. The annual Student Team Chef Challenge, now in its 16th year is designed to encourage interest in and support for British food and cooking among teams of student chefs working towards their NVQ qualification in catering. It is a great opportunity for them to show their culinary skill before embarking on their first professional job The teams in the regional heats will now have to impress a judging panel of leading industry professionals when they cook a three-course meal for four using local and regional ingredients. Judges will be assessing the seasoning, taste, presentation, culinary skills, working methods and regionality of the teams menus at a series of cook-offs in early 2010, before the regional winners go on to compete at the final held at Hotelympia. The regional heats and finalists are: Scotland Regional Heat, 28 January 2010 Ayr College, Ayr South Lanarkshire College, East Kilbride Forth Valley College, Falkirk South West College, Northern Ireland x 2 teams Northern England Regional Heat, 2 February 2010 Sheffield City College, Sheffield Liverpool Community College, Liverpool Tyne Metropolitan College, Tyne and Wear Wakefield College, Wakefield Nelson and Colne College, Lancashire London & South East England Regional Heat, 24 January 2010 Westminster Kingsway College, London Thames Valley University, Ealing Thurrock & Basildon College, Grays Thanet College, Broadstairs Mid Kent College, Gillingham Highbury College, Portsmouth Fareham College, Hampshire Eastleigh, Hampshire Midlands Regional Heat, 29 January 2010 North Warks & Hinckley College, Nuneaton Cambridge Regional College, Cambridge Loughborough College, Loughborough Suffolk New College, Ipswich College of West Anglia, Norfolk Shrewsbury College, Shrewsbury South West England Regional Heat, 23 January 2010 City of Bristol College, Bristol Newbury College, Berkshire Carmarthenshire College, South Wales The five regional winners will also be invited to take part in the live final at Hotelympia in London on 3rd March. Martin Bates, chief executive officer of the Craft Guild of Chefs said: "The Craft Guild of Chefs are delighted to be involved with the organising of this year's challenge. This is an ideal opportunity for colleges to enter teams of young chefs and for those young-guns to build their confidence and skills through competition. If the paper entries are anything to go by the regional cook-offs are going to be tough to mark for the teams of judges from The Craft Guild of Chefs and Brakes development chefs as well as our colleagues the Scottish Federation of Chefs."