Foster Farms has announced a call for entries for its third annual Fresh Chicken Cooking Contest, inviting home, amateur and professional chefs to stir up locally inspired cooking creativity. The winner will receive a grand prize of $10,000 plus a one-year supply of Foster Farms fresh chicken. The deadline to enter is June 3, 2012 at 11:59:59 p.m. PDT.

Foster Farms is encouraging residents of California, Oregon and Washington over the age of 18 to submit their favorite, original, fresh chicken recipes for consideration for a chance at coveted grand prize. Recipes must feature Foster Farms fresh chicken and should be inspired by fresh ingredients grown on the West Coast as a testament to Foster Farms' commitment to foods that are fresh, locally grown and always natural. The scoring structure will be weighted to reward contestants whose recipes highlight truly fresh and local ingredients. Last year's winner was a home chef and the 2010 winner was a cooking school student whose win helped launch her culinary career.

"We were impressed by the high quality and creativity of the thousands of entries from last year's contest," said Ira Brill, director of marketing services for Foster Farms. "As a longstanding West Coast brand committed to bringing consumers fresh locally grown chicken delivered fresh to their store in 48 hours, we look forward to making this event even bigger and better this year and to inspiring new ways to prepare our locally grown fresh chicken." Previous semifinalist recipes have highlighted local produce ranging from Washington apples to California avocados to Oregon's marionberries and more highlighting the West Coast bounty at the fingertips of today's food enthusiasts.

Foster Farms will host regional semifinal events in San Diego, Calif., Portland, Ore., and Seattle, Wash., in August and September 2012 where contestants will compete for two spots at the Finals event. The contest culminates with the Finals on September 28, 2012 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif. Entries will be judged by a panel of leading food media and culinary professionals.

Source: Foster Farms