The chefs, who have to be aged between 18 and 23 to take part, will compete at heats in Sheffield and London this month before the top five scorers are chosen to join three seeded finalists for the final at The Restaurant Show on Tuesday 6 October.
Finalists will also be given the chance to take part in a Mentor Day at the Unilever Innovation Kitchen in Leatherhead on 7 September.
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 Young National Chef of the Year 2015 semi-finalists are:
- 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
- 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
The three seeded finalists (guaranteed a place in the final) are:
- Danny Hoang, Colette’s at The Grove
- James Newton, Royal Garden Hotel
- Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Awards of Excellence winner
The YNCOTY competition was created to celebrate and develop the culinary skills of young British chefs. It 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.