‘Cook Your Way to $18K’ Contest Winners Announced; Each Awarded $18,000 Scholarship

ATLANTIC CITY – The heat was on as nine finalists, five for culinary and four for baking and pastry who had entered their recipes in the first-ever Academy of Culinary Arts’ “Cook Your Way to $18K” Contest competed Aug. 2 at Atlantic Cape Community College’s Charles D. Worthington Atlantic City campus.
The winner for the culinary competition was Maria Cotton of Williamstown whose dish was a Thai-style Green Curry with Chicken and Shrimp, and the winner for baking and pastry was Ahmad Reed of Marmora who baked an award-winning Rose French Toast.
When asked what winning meant to her, Cotton replied, “In my 50s, I love the fact that I can do what I love to do, not necessarily what I have to do. And I took a stab at this cause I love food. I love to cook it, I love to serve it, I love making people happy with it.”
Reed remarked, “It means everything to me. I put a lot of hard work into my recipe and I was preparing for days leading up to this and to just see it pay off, its crazy. I’m still shocked.”
Judges for the contest included Willie Lewis, consulting chef of Kelsey’s in Atlantic City; Donna Albano, associate professor of hospitality and tourism management studies at Stockton University; and Jerry Beaver, director of food and beverage for Caesars Atlantic City and Bally’s Atlantic City Hotel and Casino.
Each winner will be awarded an $18,000 scholarship to attend the academy for a Baking and Pastry or Culinary certification, all while gaining credits toward their associate degree from Atlantic Cape. This amounts to a full-time ACA student’s first year of tuition and fees.
The contest was open to anyone who is currently in high school or had graduated with a high school diploma or GED equivalent.
A chef knife kit from the Follett Bookstore ($250 value) was awarded to the following seven runners-up who competed fiercely: Harry Dallmaer of Magnolia, Zane Berry of Monroeville, Mark Henry of Bridgeton, Noah Baji of Bellmawr, Angela Zhang of Egg Harbor City, Gavin Rodgers of Estell Manor and Jose-Antonio Certvantes Jr. of Brick.