Young chefs from Honiton and Ottery St Mary have reached the final of Junior Chef of the Year.

In the final are 15-year-old Freya from Honiton Community College, and Kadence, 15, from The King’s School, Ottery St Mary.

Other finalists were from South Molton, Okehampton, Newton Abbot, Torquay and Devonport.

Thanks to a partnership with Springboard FutureChef, all six county finalists have the opportunity to go through to the FutureChef regional final in January 2025 to compete for a place in the FutureChef national final.

Winner of the competition was Tom, a student at Trinity School, Teignmouth. He won the accolade in this year’s South West Chef of the Year competition which saw him competing against seven other aspiring chefs, aged between 12 and 15, in a hotly-contested final at Exeter College.

Competition co-founder, chef Michael Caines MBE DL, who is chef/patron at Lympstone Manor in Devon, said the standard of cooking in the Junior finals continued to improve year-on-year.

He said: “Tom created a delicious meal which was highly rated by the judges in what was a very competitive final. He demonstrated skilful use of local ingredients in this very impressive dish.

“Developing new talent remains one of our key drivers with this competition and it’s gratifying to see many of our previous young winners go on to have successful careers in the catering industry.”

He added: “We are committed to promoting culinary excellence, nurturing talent, and championing the vibrant food culture of the south west.”

Overall winner of South West Junior Chef of the Year will be offered the much sought-after opportunity of work experience with Michelin-starred chef, David Everitt-Matthias, at his highly respected restaurant Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham.

This year’s event culminates with the finals of the Professional and Student/Apprentice Chef categories on Tuesday October 29 at Exeter College, which is followed that evening by the Awards Presentation Dinner at Exeter Golf and Country Club.

Tickets for the Awards Evening are available to purchase. Visit the website, or email info@southwestchef.co.uk for information.