Twenty young chefs from across the country were put through their paces in a series of tough culinary challenges at Sheffield College and the University of West London on June 11. Ten successful chefs were then selected to attend a final exam on August 28 at University College Birmingham, and a prestigious awards ceremony on September 5 at the Landmark Hotel where they will find out if they have graduated.
The Landmark Hotel and The Ritz scored a double with two talented chefs from each hotel reaching the final.
The 2014 Graduate Awards finalists are:
Reece Cosier, Landmark London Hotel
Wayne Herrington, Landmark London Hotel
Connor Godfrey, The Ritz
Ruth Hansom, The Ritz
John Grabecki, Galvin@Windows
Victoria Scupham, Royal Household
Joe Bose, House of Commons
Ross McMillan, Stirling Management Centre
Oliver Snowden, General Tarleton
James Newton, Royal Garden Hotel
Straight after the regional events, senior chef de partie John Grabecki from Galvin@Windows said via Twitter: “What an experience. Everything went well ... I think @Craft_Guild up to you now!” Demi chef de partie Victoria Scupham from the Royal Household tweeted: “It was an amazing experience, I loved it, fingers crossed.”
Craft Guild vice president and Graduate Awards organiser, Steve Munkley, said: “The final stage is always an exciting one as we get closer to finding out who the 2014 graduates are going to be, and this year is no exception. The judges were really impressed with all of the semi-finalists; the standard was so high and this is shown by the fact we have 10 finalists.
“However to be crowned a graduate they must now achieve a score of 85% in the final exam. Any previous graduate knows, this isn’t an easy task, but earning the right to join our list of talented chefs makes all the hard work, dedication and hours of practice absolutely worthwhile.”
As well as the graduate certificates and Highest Achiever Award, there is also an Employer’s Award for Excellence in Training.
This year’s sponsors are AAK, CCS, City & Guilds, Essential Cuisine, Gram, James Knight of Mayfair, Landmark London Hotel, Mars Foodservice (Uncle Ben’s), Meiko, MKN, Reynolds Catering Supplies, Robert Welch, Savoy Educational Trust, The London Meat Company, Villeroy & Boch and Warner Leisure.