CHILI COOKOFF RULES

Contestants must pre-register; no walk-ups will be accepted for contest judgment.
Contestants must check-in at the registration tent upon arrival. Chili should be dropped off between 2:45pm and 3:15pm.
Chili must be prepared in advance and will be transferred to pans provided by Fresh Start Church.
Fresh Start will provide chafing dishes, heating element and ladles. Chili must be warm upon arrival. Please note, we will not heat up cold chili.
Contestants must prepare between 3-5 quarts of chili.
All ingredients are OK to use, no restrictions. If you are using ingredients people may be allergic to, please let the check-in table know.
Fresh Start will provide common condiments such as: oyster crackers, shredded cheese and diced onions.
Eating utensils such as: bowls, spoons and napkins will be provided.
Specialty condiments/toppings are NOT allowed for judging. Eg: No corn bread, sour cream, etc… There is no room on the tables for extra condiments/toppings/sides etc.
Each chef will be able to prepare the chili cup serving for judging. Runners will receive the cup and serve it to the judges.
Judge’s backs will face the serving stations to keep chefs anonymous. No signage, handouts, recipe cards are to be displayed or provided to any of the judges.

JUDGING

Judging will start at 3:30pm.
Winners will be announced once judging has commenced, around 4:30pm.
3 rounds of judging will take place to determine a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place chili.
3 judges, however a 4th (tiebreaker) judge will be designated in the event of a tie in the 1st
The judging will be based upon TASTE!

Each judge will sample the chilis submitted and rank them on a scale of 1 – 10 based on the criteria above.
Top 5 (highest point total) will move on to Round 2
In the event of a tie, a 4th judge will sample the tied chili’s and rank them ultimately breaking the tie.

Judges will taste the top 5 chili finalists and choose their top 3 based on the same criteria as the first round.
Top 3 vote getters move forward to the final contest prize round.

Each judge will rank the top 3 chili finalists.
Based on the rankings received, a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winner will be determined.