Swan Hill Regional Final, 20th August

Three teams representing MacKillop College, Swan Hill College and Tooleybuc Central School contested for a grand final berth on Wednesday at the Swan Hill College commercial kitchen. The three 'all girl' teams demonstrated their cookery skills and individual creativity to produce and present the three course menu to four local chefs for judging. A margin of 5 points was noted between first and third place. Excited winners of the Swan Hill Region Final are Emma Miceli and Mykaela Pickering from MacKillop College who will proceed to the Grand Final in Mildura.

The Swan Hill Region is proudly sponsored by Swan Hill International College

incorporating Carriages Restaurant

Shepparton Regional Final

The Shepparton Regional Final was held at Goulburn Ovens TAFE on Wednesday 20 August.

Judges were Gracie Sharwood from GV Hotel (also our Regional Sponsor) and Jordan Rosmulder from Country Comfort. Both judges were impressed with the high standard of the competitors and their work.

Winners were Alison and Bec from Notre Dame College.

They will progress to the Grand Final in Mildura.

Our thanks to GV Hotel for their generous support, and Goulburn Ovens TAFE (especially Ross Graham) for assistance with coordinating the event.

Deniliquin Regional Final

It was a close fought competition in Deniliquin with only one point between winners.

Students from Deniliquin High to go to Mildura will be Kaitlyn and Jemma.

Echuca Regional Final

The Echuca Regional Final of the Murray River Culinary Challenge was run and won on Tuesday 19 August at BRIT.

A combined team of Nathan from St Joseph’s and Leanne from Echuca College won the event and will represent the Echuca region at the Grand Final in Mildura on Monday September 8th.

Regional organiser Wendy Shorthouse congratulates all of the competitors on their fantastic performances yesterday. All students were great ambassadors for their schools.

Thank you to everyone at BRIT for hosting a wonderful afternoon. Thanks also to those school representatives that came along to support their students.

Mildura Regional Final

The Murray River Culinary Challenge Mildura LCP Regional Final was narrowly won by students from Mildura Senior College over students from Coomealla High School.

An audience of twenty heard judge, Jo - ann Shadwick review both teams' performance before she announced Mildura Secondary College's De Arne and Elizabeth had won the Mildura LCP Regional Final.

De Arne and Elizabeth, each of whom is a VCE student and includes VET Hospitality Studies as a subject, will compete against eight students representing four other Local Community Partnership regions in the Murray River Culinary Challenge Grand Final.

This annual event will be held @ Sunraysia Institute of TAFE on Monday, September 8th.

Preparation for the Grand Final

This year's Grand Final will be a fantastic event. The menus have been planned and will be released to competitors next week. Stefano De Pieri will again be one of the judges at the Grand Final. Four other judges will come from across the regions. Chefs from as far away as Shepparton are planning to travel to Mildura to watch the competition.

Which students will compete in the Grand Final? That will be decided in the next few days as the five Regional Finals are held.

The 2008 Challenge

All the school level competitions have been held and the winning students are now practicing for their Regional Finals.

The first of the Regional Finals will be held in Mildura on Friday 15 August, with Echuca's being held on Tuesday 19 August, and Shepparton and Swan Hill both on Wednesday 20 August.

Winning teams from each region will progress to the Grand Final, which will be held in Mildura on 8 September.