The paper entries have been judged and the Craft Guild of Chefs can now reveal the 40 chefs going though to the semi-final of the National Chef of the Year 2016 competition.

The National Chef of the Year is the most prestigious of all UK chef competitions and widely recognised as a life-changing and career-boosting event for its winners.

The semi-finalists will compete in the heats at Sheffield College on Wednesday, June 11 or at Le Cordon Bleu cookery school in London on Wednesday, June 24. The top scoring chefs from both heats will then go through to compete in the National Chef of the Year final at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday, October 6 at Olympia, London.

This year, the brief is to create an innovative menu for four people, focusing on technical skills, seasonality and sustainably sourced ingredients. This year all the finalists will have the opportunity to work with a mentor to help them achieve the best result possible in the final. The mentoring panel is made up of well respected chefs from across the UK, including previous winners of the title.

The Mentor Day is designed to focus the minds of the finalists on the task ahead and will include workshops, masterclasses, meet the sponsor sessions and the big reveal of the mystery basket. It will take place on Tuesday, September 15 at Unilever Innovation Kitchen in Leatherhead.

David Mulcahy, Vice President of the Craft Guild of Chefs and organiser of the competition said: “National Chef of the Year is arguably the toughest culinary challenge in the UK’s competition calendar and the semi-finalists are now facing up to what will be a demanding but ultimately a hugely rewarding experience. Over the past 45 years, we have seen some fantastic chefs make a name for themselves through this competition and I look forward to witnessing this year’s talent.”

Stuart Flint, Regional Training and Demonstration Manager at Electrolux Professional added: “It’s an exciting time for the industry to see such enormous talent at the semi-final stage and we’re so pleased to be a sponsor of such a hotly-contested competition. Previous winners have gone on to have exceptional careers, and we’re excited to see how this year’s line-up express their culinary flair.”

Alan Swinson, Culinary Arts Director at Le Cordon Bleu London commenting on the partnership between the two significant names in the culinary industry said: “Le Cordon Bleu is delighted to be hosting the semi-finals of the National Chef of the Year for the second time. It was a pleasure last year to have so many of the UK’s leading chefs under our roof. We are really looking forward to welcoming the National Chef of The Year team again this year.”

Winning National Chef of the Year has helped establish the careers of chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, David Everitt-Matthias, Mark Sargeant, Steve Love, Simon Hulstone, Hrishikesh Desai and last year’s winner Russell Bateman. The esteemed panel of judges will be chaired by Clare Smyth, chef patron at the three Michelin starred Restaurant Gordon Ramsay.