Promising young chefs in Victoria, NSW and the ACT – this is your moment. The Smeg Young Chef of the Year, awarded by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guides, is now open for applications from the next generation of cooking talent.

Previous winners include influential Australian chefs Phil Wood, Brett Graham, Lauren Eldridge, Dan Hong, Mitch Orr and Andrew McConnell.

The next Young Chef of the Year recipients will be named at the Good Food Guide Awards in Sydney and Melbourne in November, and prizes include $10,000 worth of Smeg appliances of the winners’ choice, plus professional mentoring.

In 2023, Brasserie 1930 chef Shashank Achuta took home the award for The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, while a dead heat at The Age crowned two winners: Cameron Tay-Yap from Amaru, and Lily McGrath, then at MoVida.

Eligible chefs must be under 30 years old; a permanent Australian resident; and based in Victoria, NSW or the ACT. The industry judging panel and Good Food Guide editors are looking for chefs who:

• are fantastic cooks
• have a social conscience
• work to better the community
• lift up their fellow chefs, and
• are keenly interested in learning and improving

The award is open to chefs working in any section of the kitchen, but they must not be an executive chef or the owner of a restaurant. (Applications from head chefs are accepted if there is also an executive chef in the kitchen.)

The first step is completing an online application before August 6. Finalists will appear in front of a panel of industry leaders and a representative from the Good Food Guide for an interview later in August.