School chefs from across the East of England competed on Wednesday 5 March for the top Regional Award in LACA's School Chef of the Year 2008 Competition sponsored by Nestlé FoodServices. Eight contestants battled it out in a cook off at New College Nottingham Clarendon, Pelham Avenue, Nottingham.

The winner of the competition was North Yorkshire school cook, Dawn Dale.  Dawn works at West Cliff Primary School and cooked a delicious two course meal that impressed the judges.  She now goes through to the national final in June where she will compete against seven other cooks from Scotland, England and Wales.

Organised by the Local Authority Caterers Association (LACA), the School Chef of the Year Competition is the industry's premier culinary event exclusively for those in the education catering sector. The Competition aims to showcase the high standards of skill, creativity and professionalism amongst school caterers. The Competition is open to all kitchen based staff employed by organisations that are full members of LACA and are involved with the daily preparation of school meals.

This annual competition puts the preparation, cooking, creativity and presentation skills of school chefs to the test with each entrant required to produce, in just one and a half hours, a healthy balanced two-course meal comprising of a main course and dessert that would appeal to eleven year olds in school. The dishes must conform to the current Food-based Nutritional Standards and can be made up of poultry, meat, fish and non-meat proteins. A maximum of 90p per head is allowed for the food cost of a main course and dessert for one child.

Everyone at North Yorkshire County Caterers wishes Dawn every success for the final.