Johnson And Wales University's National High School Chef Of The Year Contest

In Asociation with the American Heart Association
and the American Cancer Society
Johnson & Wales University Calls for Entries in its 18th Annual
"National High School Chef of the Year" contest

University Raising Awareness of Heart Disease and Teen Obesity with Healthy Heritage Recipe Requirement

CHARLOTTE, NC -December 11, 2006 -For the 2007 competition, Johnson & Wales aims to increase awareness of heart disease and teen obesity by requiring high school students from the U.S. to submit a dinner or dessert recipe that is nutritionally balanced according to the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Cancer Society (ACS) dietary guidelines. Contestants must create an entrie or dessert using an original recipe, which incorporates either their family heritage (i.e. nationality, etc.) or a recipe with a strong, appealing ethnicity. The top ten entrants in both the dinner and dessert categories of the senior division will be flown to Johnson & Wales' Charlotte campus during the weekend of March 16-18, 2007, to prepare their dishes for a panel of judges, including chefs, food writers, and industry leaders. This year's panel will consist of Rahman Haper, Bunny Noel, David Meginis, Tim Scott, Wofgang Bierer, Julie Kaufmann, Kathie Smith, Jane Snow, David Nelson, Ellen Sweets and Scott Leibfried.

For the first time in its 18 year history, Johnson & Wales University is allowing high school students from freshmen through seniors to enter its National High School Chef of the Year contest. With nearly one million dollars in total scholarship awards, the grand prize winners-in both the dinner and dessert senior division categories-will receive full-tuition scholarships and a trip to New York for a private cooking lesson with celebrity chef, author, and J&W grad Tyler Florence '94. In addition, the first three-hundred participants who submit complete entries will receive a $1,000 one-time tuition grant upon enrolling at the University.

In the junior and senior competition the following 20 prizes will be awarded:
 The grand-prize winner in each category will be awarded a renewable full-tuition scholarship to Johnson & Wales (valued at over $75,000).
 Each first runner-up will be awarded a $7,500 renewable tuition scholarship (valued at up to $30,000).
 Each second runner-up a $5,000 renewable tuition scholarship (valued at up to $20,000).
 All other finalists will receive $3,500 renewable tuition scholarships (valued at up to $14,000).

In the freshman and sophomore competition the following 20 prizes will be awarded:
 The grand-prize winner in each category will receive a $5,000 renewable scholarship to Johnson & Wales (valued at up to $20,000).
 Each first runner-up will be awarded a $4,000 renewable tuition scholarship (valued at up to $16,000).
 Each second runner-up a $3,000 renewable tuition scholarship (valued up to $12,000).
 In addition, the remaining finalists will be awarded a one-time grant of $1,000.
 All finalists will receive a free Career Explorations) Summer Program at J&W.
 Grand prize winners, first runner-ups, and second runner-ups will also receive a demonstration from a J&W chef at their school.

Any student who uses strawberries in their recipe will be eligible for additional scholarship dollars from the Florida Strawberry Growers Association. Three one-time scholarships - in the amounts of $2,500, $1,500 and $1,000 will be awarded to the three students deemed to have used strawberries most creatively.

Jack Hogan, from Portsmouth, NH, was the grand prize winner of last year's dinner category. In addition to his full-tuition scholarship, Jack traveled this September to New York, where he toured the Food Network studios, and met with J&W grad and Food Network personality Tyler Florence '94. Jack says:
"Upon first hearing about the 2006 competition, I