Jacob Richler (left) sent me an interesting e-mail recently, telling me about a culinary competition that’s taking place in British Columbia on October 27th. In his own words, “it’s an intelligently challenging competition closely modelled on the Roux scholarship in the U.K. Which is to say that you really do have to be young (28 or younger) and that for once the focus is strictly on culinary skill set – as opposed to, say, any given competitor’s irrelevant telegenic qualities.”
The deadline for applications is very, very soon – September 21st, to be precise.
If you are an ambitious young chef, read the next paragraph carefully. It comes from the competition’s web site, http://www.hawksworthscholarship.com, where you can find all necessary details.
“The Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship program is a non-profit culinary foundation created to provide a platform for talented young Canadian chefs to get a head start in their career. The winner of the inaugural 2013 Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship will receive a $10,000 bursary, provided by the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, and a stage at a top international restaurant – giving them the inspiration and opportunity needed to develop their professional skills.”
Ten grand and a stage… Richler tells me that the deadline for applications has been commendably high but that the bulk of them, naturally, are from Western Canada. Those of us who live farther east would love to see more competitors from this side of the prairies.
This is a serious opportunity to perform in front of a most respectable panel of judges including chefs David Hawksworth, Mark McEwan, Normand Laprise, Anthony Walsh and Vikram Vij and, representing the rest of us, Jacob Richler.
Consider this a call to arms, young chefs. You have a week to submit your application.