Win $50,000 for your chicken recipe

Your original chicken recipe could win $50,000 in the National Chicken Cooking Contest, but better hurry – the entry deadline is August 31.

“It’s easy to enter, fun to compete, and great to win,” says Contest Director Nancy Tringali Piho. The contest leads up to a National Cookoff on May 2, 2009, in San Antonio, Texas.

Entries can be submitted through the web site www.eatchicken.com or on paper to National Chicken Cooking Contest, PO Box 27997, Washington DC 20038-7997, or by fax, (202) 293-4005. Entries must be original, that is, developed by the cook and not previously published in substantially the same form.

A preliminary winner will be selected from each of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. Each state winner will receive $100.00, and his or her recipe will go on to a regional level of judging.

A winner will then be selected from each of the nine official Census Bureau divisions of the country, and these nine winners will be invited to prepare their creations in person at the National Cook-Off. Each regional winner will receive $1,000.00 and compete for the grand prize of $50,000. A Judge’s Choice prize of $10,000 will also be awarded at the National Cook-Off.

“This is the first time we have had a regional level of competition,” Ms. Piho said. “This allows more people to win more prizes throughout the competition. A total of $74,100 will be awarded.”

The web site www.chickencookingcontest.com has recipes from past contests and photos of the last Cook-Off, held in Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, the official cookbook of the National Chicken Cooking Contest, with recipes from the last contest and many more, is available for only $3.00 postpaid. Send cash, check or money order with your name and mailing address to: Chicken Cookbook, Dept. NCC-3, Box 307, Coventry, CT 06238.

The National Chicken Cooking Contest is sponsored by the National Chicken Council, the chicken industry’s trade association. The Council represents integrated chicken producer-processors, the companies that produce, process and market chickens. Member companies of NCC account for approximately 95 percent of the chicken sold in the United States.