The Craft Guild of Chefs has announced the 16 talented young chefs who will proceed into the semi-finals of the Young National Chef of the Year 2016 competition.

The competition, set up to celebrate and develop the culinary skills of aspiring, young British chefs, will see the semi- finalists split into two heats – one in Sheffield on Thursday, June 11, 2015 and one in London on Wednesday, June 24, 2015.

The top five scorers from each heat will proceed to the final at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday, October 6, 2015, alongside three seeded finalists – Danny Hoang from Colette’s at The Grove, James Newton from the Royal Garden Hotel and the winner of the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Awards of Excellence.

Mark Sargeant, Young National Chef of the Year Ambassador, said: “It's always an absolute pleasure to be involved with YNCOTY and to witness the competition go from strength to strength. Each year the standards get higher and I'm really looking forward to seeing what talent this year’s competition brings.”

For the successful finalists, a mentor day will take place at the Unilever Innovation Kitchen in
 Leatherhead on September 7. The mentor day stems from the Craft Guild of Chefs’ new mentoring scheme which links the competitors with top British chefs, including previous winners of the title.

Steve Munkley, Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs and chairman of judges

said: “The Young National Chef of the Year is a fantastic platform to showcase our industry’s talent and skills.  Since its launch four years ago, the calibre of young chefs coming through this competition never fails to impress me. With the new mentoring scheme now in place I have very high expectations for this year’s entrants.”

The competition  draws successful candidates from a wide range of UK-wide chef competitions including the Craft Guild of Chefs Graduate Awards, Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Young Chef, Young Welsh Chef of the Year, Young Scottish Chef of the year, Young Game Chef of the Year, Young Grampian Chef of the Year, Young North East Chef of the Year, South West Young Chef of the Year, The Master Chefs of Great Britain Young Chef of the Year, North West Chef of the Year, Guernsey Young Chef of the Year and UK Skills. The winner and runners up will be revealed along with The National Chef of the Year at an awards ceremony following the final.

Semi finals:

Heat One  Thursday, June 11, 2015 - Sheffield City College, Sheffield Andrew Forbes, Gleneagles Sean Creamer, Aldea Daniel Wood, Stocks Hotel, Sark Jonathan Ferguson, Cail Bruich West Aaron Tye, Shared Olive Restaurant Danny Young, Northcote Manor Arthur Quin, The Punchball Inn Richie Gavryluk, Trump International Golf Links, Balmedie

Heat Two Wednesday, June 24, 2015 - Le Cordon Bleu, London Elly Wentworth, Manor House Hotel, Castle Combe Craig Bateman, Compass Group UK and Ireland Jack Vassallo, Grosvenor House Hotel Connor Godfrey, Wiltons Restaurant Victoria Scupham, The Royal Household Ruth Hansom, The Ritz Peter Ley, BaxterStorey Salvatore Vitale, Deloitte

For more information visit www.craftguildofchefs.org or follow @Craft_Guild #YNCOTY on Twitter.