COMPETITORS:
The competition is open to anyone living or working in England.

Competitors may be individuals or teams of up to three people aged 16 or over on 29 September 2007.

Any individual competitor who has not reached the age of 18 by 29 September 2007 will need to be accompanied to the cook-off final by someone aged 18 or over on 29 September 2007.

A team of two or three people must include at least one person aged 18 or over on 29 September 2007 (a school or college team, therefore, might consist of one or two students aged under 18 plus a lecturer or older student).

Teams may change one member of the team between the date of entry and the date of the cook-off final provided that adherence is maintained to the other rules in this section.

Individual competitors selected to attend the cook-off final may nominate one other individual to accompany them to the final, whether or not that individual participates in the cooking activity.

JUDGES:
The judges will be appointed by Smye Holland Associates and/or the Dutch Produce Association.

The judges for the short-listing process and the ‘cook-off’ final may be different.

JUDGING:
The judges in the first stage of the competition, in which they will be compiling a short list of three entries to go forward to the cook-off final, will be looking for originality in the use and combination of ingredients and cooking processes. They will be seeking a dish that seems to them most likely (on the basis of the submitted recipe) to be tasty, easy to prepare by an experienced amateur cook and reasonably economical.

The judges at the cook-off final will similarly be looking for a dish that is tasty, easy to prepare by an experienced amateur cook and reasonably economical. They will also award marks for good kitchen hygiene and practice during the cooking and for the presentation of the completed dish.

The decision of the judges will be final and not subject to challenge or review. Neither judges, sponsors nor organisers will enter into correspondence about the judges’ decisions.

TRAVEL ETC:
The organisers and sponsors will seek to make suitable travel arrangements for the three short-listed individuals or teams to attend the cook-off final. For example, as far as possible, flights will be arranged from airports close to the finalists’ home addresses in England. The organisers and sponsors, however, will have absolute discretion to make such travel arrangements as they see fit.

Competitors in the cook-off final will be responsible for their own travel to and from the airport selected by the organisers and sponsors.

Competitors in the cook-off final will be responsible for ensuring that they arrive at the airport in good time to catch the outbound flight selected by he organisers and sponsors.

DISABLED COMPETITORS:
Travel to The Netherlands will be by scheduled airline and travel within The Netherlands will be by coach. The sponsors and organisers will make any reasonable endeavour within these constraints to accommodate the needs of competitors who are disabled but it will be such competitors’ responsibility to make any special arrangements necessary with the airline or coach company (contact details will be provided by Smye Holland Associates upon request).

The cook-off final will be held in a cookery demonstration facility in The Netherlands. The sponsors and organisers will make any reasonable endeavour to accommodate the needs of competitors who are disabled but it will be such competitors’ responsibility to make any special arrangements necessary with the facility (contact details will be provided by Smye Holland Associates upon request).

PRIZES:
It is the intention of the sponsors that the beneficiaries of prizes will be charitable or educational organisations.

Cheques for prizes will be made payable to the organisation (eg, school, college or charity) named on the original entry.

The sponsors and organisers reserve the right to refuse entries which name prize beneficiaries that, in their absolute discretion, they deem to be inappropriate.

Prize cheques will not be made payable to individuals.

ENTRIES, TIMETABLE AND COPYRIGHT:
Copyright in all submitted recipes will be the property of the Dutch Produce Association.

Entries must be submitted via the Chicory Challenge website by no later than midnight on Friday 12 October 2007.

The cook-off final is scheduled to take place on 22 November 2007 (with travel to The Netherlands being planned for 21 November 2007). The sponsors and organisers reserve the right to change the date if, in their sole judgment, circumstances should require it.

The sponsors and organisers reserve the right to select alternative competitors for the cook-off final if, for any reason, one or more of the first three short-listed finalists is unable to attend the cook-off final on the date selected by the sponsors or organisers.

PUBLICITY:
It is a condition of entry that competitors agree to assist the sponsors and organisers with publicity as far as it is reasonably practical for them to do so.

Competitors may be required to pose for photographs at any stage during the competition and those photographs may be used for publicity purposes.

The sponsors and organisers may advise the media of entries received from individuals and teams and may pass competitors’ contact details to the media for the purposes of publicity.

INSURANCE AND LIABILITY:
The sponsors and organisers are taking out no travel or other insurance other than the public and other liability insurances provided by airlines, coach companies, etc, as part of their standard terms of business. Competitors who wish for additional insurance should make their own insurance arrangements.

The sponsors and organisers accept no liability for the failure of any travel arrangements, whether made by the sponsors or organisers or by competitors themselves.

The failure of any team, team member or individual competitor to arrive at the venue in time for the cook-off final will not preclude the sponsors and organisers from proceeding with the final.

The sponsors and organisers will make every endeavour to manage the Chicory Challenge in accordance with the rules and the general outline given on the Chicory Challenge website and other promotional material. The sponsors and organisers accept no responsibility or liability for failures, errors or omissions beyond their reasonable foresight or control.

ACCEPTANCE OF RULES AND JURISDICTION:
Submission of an entry to the Chicory Challenge will be regarded as acceptance of these rules.

Where there is (or may be considered to be) any conflict between these rules and any promotional material about the Chicory Challenge, these rules shall prevail in interpretation of requirements and procedures.

The decision of the sponsors and organisers in interpreting and applying these rules will be final and not open to challenge or review except as required by law.

The competition will be subject to the law of England.