Teflon's Diamond Standard Awards and Springboard's FutureChef become partner schemes

Springboard's FutureChef and DuPont, with the Teflon Diamond Standard Awards, have become partner schemes.

The partnership comes as both award schemes build towards their respective regional and national finals, which are due to be held in March.

The FutureChef finals are in London on 18 March, while the Teflon Diamond Standard Awards are a week later at celebrity chef Lesley Waters' Cookery School in Dorset.

The Teflon Diamond Standard Awards provide the first opportunity to shine for students who are seriously thinking of following a catering career by studying it to A-level or equivalent, filling the gap between Springboard's FutureChef, targeted at 12-16 year old students, college programmes such as Nestlé's Toque D'Or and the first professional awards that employed chefs can enter, such as Caterer and Hotelkeeper‘s own Acorn Awards.

Dee Smith, programmes director at the Springboard Charity, organisers of FutureChef, said: "We are delighted to be working with DuPont and believe that the Teflon Diamond Standard Awards complement our work superbly and provide a clear progression for catering students, since they are aimed at students who progress to study the subject at A-level in schools. We are delighted that they are partnering with FutureChef, as well as being one of our Gold sponsors, and we wish them well in their first year."

More than 100 teams have already registered for the Teflon® Diamond Standard Awards with more than 5,000 hits to the competition website www.teflon-dsa.com, since its launch in the autumn of 2012.

"The credentials of Springboard's FutureChef, which has been running for 13 years, are excellent, so we are delighted to have them as a partner," said Wilbert Broeksmit, marketing manager for Teflon consumer finishes.

Schools, students and teachers on the regional finalist teams and national winning team will share the prize money and trophies on offer. Winning schools will also receive supplies, including cookware and bakeware coated with top grade DuPont Teflon nonstick coating systems for their teaching kitchens, donated by sponsors Tesco, Europasonic, Crealys, NoStik, ProWare and Le Chef.

DuPont has assembled a panel of industry experts to judge the awards nationally and regionally. Lesley Waters heads the national judging panel, which also includes Adam Smith, sous chef at The Ritz, and Chris Moore, chief executive of The Clink Charity, as well as Mark Lewis, group editor of Caterer and Hotelkeeper, and Anne Pierce, chief executive of The Springboard Charity.

The Awards will be judged in six regions, which are: London & South East, South West, Midlands, Wales, North and Scotland.

Pictured: Wilbert Broeksmit, marketing manager for Teflon consumer finishes, with Dee Smith, programmes director at the Springboard Charity