Young Chefs Face Michelin Winners

Ireland’s finest young chefs and young waiters will travel to Limerick in October to compete in the Young Chef Young Waiter Ireland 2022 competition (YCYW) before a judging panel whose members have won eight Michelin Stars between them. 

The winners will be crowned “Ireland’s Young Chef of the Year” and “Ireland’s Young Waiter of the Year” and will go on to represent Ireland at the World Final in Monaco in November 2022.

The competition will be the inaugural one in Ireland, though the YCYW awards were first established in 1979 and re-launched internationally in 2019. Ireland’s representatives will compete in the World Final against the winners of national competitions in Canada, England, the Cayman Islands, the USA, Singapore, Macao and Wales.

The Irish competition will celebrate the outstanding standards of Ireland’s emerging culinary and hospitality talent and will showcase the global reputation of Irish ingredients and products. Underlining the emphasis on quality and excellence in Irish food culture, the Irish judging panel will be made up of leaders in the field, who are also advocates and supporters of young talent.

The judges of the Young Chef awards will be led by Richard Corrigan, with Michelin-starred chefs Ross Lewis; Derry Clarke; Jordan Bailey; JP McMahon and Michael Tweedie; Domini Kemp of the Feast Group; chef-proprietor Anna Haugh of Myrtle London; Sunil Ghai, Executive Chef Pickle, Dublin; Michelle Darmody, The Irish Examiner; and Chairman of YCYW Ireland and Monaco, Robert Lee Mulcahy.

The judges of the Young Waiter awards include General Manager of The Merrion Hotel, Peter MacCann; Majken Bech-Bailey, Front of House Manager at Michelin starred Aimsir; Elaine Murphy, Managing Director, Woollen Mills Group; Peter White, General Manager of Ballyfin House; Aoife Carrigy, the outgoing Chair of the Irish Food Writers’ Guild; Peter Loughnane, Group Sales and Marketing Director, The Trigon Hotel Group; Jess Murphy, owner Kai Galway; Ross Golden Bannon, Member of Food Writers Guild; Master of Wine Alan Crowley; and Raymond Blake, one of Ireland’s leading wine writers.

Professor Vincent Cunnane, President of the Technological University of the Shannon, which has been selected to host the inaugural competition in Ireland, said: “It is entirely fitting that as a new university dedicated to nurturing and supporting young people in their chosen spheres, TUS was selected to host the inaugural Young Chef Young Waiter Awards in Ireland. We want to showcase what our young people are capable of on the national and international stage, and we want to celebrate the standing and importance of food culture for Ireland.

"This is a very significant competition, and we look forward to working with the organisers to see it grow further here in Ireland and to become a staple in the Irish calendar. I wish all the entrants well in the national and world competitions.”

Entry to the competition is free and is open to those working in the industry of 26 years of age and under. The closing date for entries is September 9th. Entry forms can be found here: https://youngchefyoungwaiter.awardsplatform.com.

The Irish competition will take place on the TUS Moylish campus (Limerick) on October 4th.