The National Chicken Council is sponsoring its 48th Annual Chicken Cooking Contest, offering a Grand Prize of $50,000. This contest is open to the United States and The District of Columbia, and ends August 31, 2008. Last year's winning entry was "Thai-Inspired Stuffed Chicken Breast and Slaw", and it sounds delicious!

The contest starts at a state level, with one prize winner from each state recieving a $100 prize. Then these fifty-one finalists will proceed to the regional competetion, with the nine finalist winners at this level walking away with $1,000 and a free trip to the National Cook-off in San Antonio on May 2, 2009. These contestants will then compete for the Grand Prize, along with the Judges' Choice Award of $10,000. Finalists will each be cooking their own original recipe at the National Cook-off, and the recipe must be able to be completed twice within a three hour time frame. One of these is for display purposes, and the other for the judges to taste-test.

For this contest, a crucial element seems to be the timing, so when considering your recipes for entry, be sure to have exact cooking times down in order to stay within the three hour time limit that the finals allow. Also you will want to use exact measurements, as with any recipe contest entry.

As far as the judging criteria goes, these recipes will be judged in four areas; taste, appearance, simplicity, and appeal. In looking at last years' winners, it seems that simplicity is not necessarily the largest of these, so have some fun with it.

Originality is the trait that shines in looking at past winning recipes, so let your creative juices flow. You may want to top that ancient family recipe off in a modern-day way, dig up the notes on that "leftover miracle" you drummed up that everybody loved so well, pump Grandma for her secrets... ("shhh... it's fifty thousand greenbacks, Grandma, I'll split it with you!"), or browse the web and some cookbooks for recipes to inspire the birth of a completely new creation.

Find out more Here.