Create a healthy recipe in one of three categories and you could win up to $3000. The Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge aims to find new healthy, delicious recipes for use in the National School Lunch Program.
Teams will make up a recipe in one of three categories and prepare it for a taste testing at a school. The schoolchildren will judge it and offer their opinions on the recipe. If the team wants to, adjustments can be made to the recipe before submission to the challenge.
Who May Enter?
Teams must be composed of at least one chef, one school nutrition professional, one student currently enrolled in grades 4-12, and one parent or community member. There is no restriction on nationality – i.e., you don’t have to be a U. S. citizen to enter.
Recipe Categories and Prizes
Recipes must fit into one of three categories: Whole Grains, Dark Green and Orange Vegetables, or Dry Beans and Peas.
A first prize of $1500 and a second prize of $1000 will be awarded in each category. Also, a grand prize of $3000 for the best recipe overall and a Popular Choice Award of $1500 will be given. The Popular Choice Award will be given to the recipe from among fifteen semi-finalists that receives the most votes online.
Judging Criteria
The recipes will be judged based on five criteria: nutrition, creativity and originality, ease of use in schools, recipe presentation (make it appealing to look at), and student involvement. So make sure that kid is helping to create the recipe. No slacking for the young’uns.
How to Enter
Submission has already started. The challenge runs from 07 Sep 2010 until 30 Dec 2010 (at 5 p.m. EST). Teams can register online at the Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge site.
Each team can enter up to three original recipes created by the team – one in each category – along with a nutrient analysis and a photograph of the prepared recipe. The recipes must be in standard U. S. measurement units and weights (teaspoons, tablespoons, cups, and so forth).
Also, each team must include on school letterhead a description of the student taste testing performed at a school with quotes from the students.
For more information, check the Official Rules and the Resources pages on the Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge site.
The Recipes for Healthy Kids Challenge is sponsored by Let’s Move! and the USDA.
Who Qualifies as a School Nutrition Professional, and does the chef have to be certified? I have family members who are excellent chefs that would participate, but do not have any certifications. I would like to enter our school into this competition, but would like to be clear on the rules prior to entering.
Hi Mike,
On the Rules page ( http://www.recipesforkidschallenge.com/rules ), it says that the Chef member of the team must be someone who cooks professionally, but it doesn’t mention certification.
A School Nutrition Professional is someone employed in the school food service, whether they are an employee of the school itself or of a food service company that contracts to the school district. They don’t have to be cooks. They can be directors or do some other job in the school food service industry.
Good luck with the competition and let us know how it turns out!