New sponsors and judges have been selected for the Kent Young Chef competition 2014.

Heading the panel of judges will be celebrity chef and Kent restaurant owner, Richard Phillips.

He owns three establishments; Thackeray's, his Michelin Star restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, The Pearson's Arms in Whitstable and the Windmill in Hollingbourne.

He has been the head judge from the beginning, with the first competition taking place in 2009.

Mr Phillips will oversee the paper judging on Monday, November 2 and the 'Live Cook Off' on Friday, November 14.

He said: “The standard has risen every single year the competition has been held, and I believe this year will be no exception.

To win the coveted title of Kent Young Chef, you need to deliver quality seasonal Kentish dishes within a tight time frame.”

“The standard has risen every single year the competition has been held, and I believe this year will be no exception" - Richard Phillips

Company Produced in Kent supports the competition in partnership with catering organisation, Kent Frozen Foods (Kff).

Tony Blake, kff Commercial Manager has been invited to help judge as he has done in previous years.

He said: “kff is once again delighted to be involved in the Kent Young Chef Award. I take the judging very seriously and use my past experience as a chef to determine the techniques, difficulty of the dish and most importantly how good it tastes.”

This year every part of the dish will need to be made during the ‘Live Cook Off’.

Mr Blake explained: “It is vital that these young chefs choose a dish that will enable them to complete the task within the specified time frame. The catering sector at large does not always have this luxury and at kff we are constantly sourcing quality products for the industry to use.

"Our Excellence range has been put together by our chefs to reflect customer taste, current food trends, and find products that are often difficult to source for some of our smaller customers.”

The Kent Potato Company will be sponsoring the competition for the first time this year. Frederick Squire from the company said: “The Kent Potato Company is delighted to be supporting the Kent Young Chef Award.

"Education is an integral part of our Brand identity and the Kent Young Chef competition fits our ethos very well. As a Kent based company we have a number of initiatives including a school project, ‘meet the grower’ and site tours for the local community.”

Continental Chef Supplies Ltd also know as CCS will be providing a personally named hand embroidered chefs jacket for each of the finalists and a chef’s knife for both the Junior and Senior Champion.

Stephanie Durling, organiser from Produced in Kent, said “We are delighted with the support for this year’s award from all our sponsors and judges. In particular Richard Phillips, he gives the young people a huge amount of time and also treats the finalists to a taster chef day at one of his restaurants as well as hosting the post final Gala Dinner”.

The Live Cook Off will take place at East Kent College, Broadstairs, where four finalists from each of the two age groups will be invited to cook their dishes.

Joining, Richard Phillips and Tony Blake on the judging panel will be Luke Davis, Head Chef at Rowhill Grange Hotel in Wilmington.