(Stay tuned to this blog. We’ll provide allot more details from the competition – like recipes, cook profiles, and judge profiles)

Last year’s competition was brisket and was a guys-only event. To change things up, this year we decided to do poultry (chicken, duck, and turkey) and invite entire families.

Eleven competitors participated, and almost 200 guests (about 50 families) attended. Guests were asked to donate a minimum of $10 per family with the proceeds going the charity of the winner’s choice. Most people gave much more than the minimum, and we ended up raising about $1200.

Each competitor grilled or smoked enough poultry for the 4 judges and 50 samples for guests. For judging, each competitor presented their dish to the judges who then evaluated the taste, texture, and appearance.

Judges. We had an incredible group of judges:

The Winners. Over the next few weeks, I’ll go into allot more detail about our competitors, including their recipes. For now, below are the Top 3, along with their poultry themed nicknames – and links to their recipes.  I noted one thing these winners all did: they cooked skin-on bone-in chicken (as opposed to others who cooked or smoked smaller pieces of skinless white meat). Their chicken remained fairly moist and exuded flavor.