THE hunt is on for the South West Junior Chef of the Year 2015.

Entries are open for the the junior category is exclusively for 11 – 16 year olds who are still at school of the competition , which provides an opportunity for budding chefs to experience cooking in a professional kitchen and be mentored by accomplished chefs.

Entrants are invited to submit their recipe for a main course to feed two people.

The entry can be emailed and should include the cooking method in full as well as a photograph of the finished dish.

The competition aims to focus on South West produce as much as excellence in cooking, with entrants asked to source their ingredients principally from the West Country region.

All recipes submitted will be judged by professional chefs and those selected to go through to the second round will be invited to cook-offs held in Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

Here the young cooks will be asked to cook and present their dish in 90 minutes.

Winners from each cook-off will go through to a final held on Saturday October 10  at Ashburton Cookery School in Devon.

Entry forms are available online at the www.southwestchef.co.uk/how-to-enter/ website and entry closes on July, 31 2015.