The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef Competition Turns Up the Heat On Budding Professional Chefs

TAMPA – February 1, 2006 --- For high school seniors who find themselves watching cooking shows on TV and thinking “I can do that,” it’s time to take the next step and enter The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef 2006 Culinary Scholarship Competition.

At stake is an opportunity to win a full tuition scholarship worth more than $35,000 to study culinary arts at The Art Institute of Tampa, and the prestigious title “Best Teen Chef.”

The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef competition awards over $200,000 in tuition scholarships to high school seniors from across North America with dreams of becoming an executive chef, a restaurant owner or television cooking show host. The first-place prize-winning student at the local competition will win a $2,000 tuition scholarship to The Art Institute of Tampa, and will automatically move on to the national cook-off competition with a chance to win a full tuition scholarship.

The Art Institutes created the Best Teen Chef competition in 2000 to encourage and recognize young culinary talent. According to The Art Institute of Tampa’s Chef Director Jason Lucas, “Over the past several years, we’ve seen an explosion in interest among young teens in the culinary arts, and much of this is because of the popularity of cooking shows on television.”

Many past competitors in The Best Teen Chef competition have said that they have learned to cook watching television. However, says Chef Lucas, “Chefs on television make things look easy, but most current professional chefs have had thorough training at a credited culinary school, and years of experience.”

The culinary arts field has become popular for other reasons as well, including predictions by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics 2004-2005 Occupational Outlook Handbook that the industry boasts a healthy job growth through the year 2012.

The Best Teen Chef competition takes place in two stages. A local competition will be held on March 11, 2006 at The Art Institute of Tampa. Other participating Art Institutes locations throughout North America include: The Art Institute of Atlanta, The Art Institute of California - Los Angeles, The Art Institute of California – Orange County, The Art Institute of California – San Diego, The Art Institute of Charlotte, The Art Institute of Colorado, The Art Institute of Dallas, The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, The Art Institute of Houston, The Art Institute of Las Vegas, The Art Institutes International Minnesota, The Art Institute of New York City, The Art Institute of Philadelphia, The Art Institute of Phoenix, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, The Art Institute of Seattle, The Art Institute of Vancouver, The Art Institute of Washington and The Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago.

Following the local competition, 20 finalists will attend the national Best Teen Chef 2006 cook-off event to be held on April 29, 2006 at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Chef Walter Scheib, former White House Executive Chef to Presidents Bush and Clinton (1994–2005), is scheduled to be on hand to help judge the national cook-off.

For Brent Lewis, the first-ever Best Teen Chef winner from Loveland, Colorado, the competition “was an amazing opportunity to meet kids from all over the country with the same ambition as you.” After graduating from The Art Institute of Colorado, Lewis was hired as an executive chef at a new upscale steak restaurant in his hometown. “I did everything from planning the menu, to ordering food from vendors, to hiring staff,” says Lewis. He credits his culinary training for giving him “the confidence and skills to bring off a successful restaurant launch.”

Students interested in entering can visit www.artinstitutes.edu/btc for entry forms and additional information.