For 2024, the Craft Guild of Chefs has unveiled a new Chair of Pastry Examiners with executive chef at Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa Sarah Frankland taking up the helm. Ben Murphy, chef patron at Launceston Place and former National Chef of the Year winner will continue his role as Chair of the Kitchen Graduate Award.
The Graduate Awards is a unique event, as it’s an exam not a competition and there’s no limit on the number of chefs who can pass each year. Semi-finalists and finalists will undertake a series of challenges including a paper-based exam followed by tasks in the kitchen.
Now in its 22nd year, the award continues to grow, and the Guild is inviting all chefs who will be aged under 25 on the 1st of September 2024 to enter. Those who achieve the Kitchen Award will be invited to compete in the Young National Chef of the Year competition in 2025 whilst pastry achievers will be invited on an overseas trip.
To enter the Graduate Awards, chefs simply need to complete the online entry form before the deadline on Tuesday 30th April 2024.
Consultant chef, Steve Munkley founded these awards in 2002 after recognising a gap in the industry for chefs to challenge and develop their culinary skills once they left college.
He commented: “The opportunities this award gives young chefs are endless and we’ve got so many stories from the Graduate Awards to shout about. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be revealing some of these on our social media channels with live interviews, blogs and spotlights on former Graduate Awards achievers.”