School kitchens are about to get competitive. CBSE has thrown open the Young India Culinary Championship (YICC) 2026-27, a cooking contest for students of Classes 6 to 12, and it costs nothing to enter. Schools have until August 1, 2026 to register students, and the contest runs entirely free at every stage.
The championship ties into the National Education Policy 2020 and the Skill India Mission, and CBSE is pitching it as a way for students to pick up real hospitality and kitchen skills, learn about nutrition and food hygiene, and get a feel for careers in cooking and tourism.
Students split into two groups by age and by how they cook.
- Category I (Classes 6 to 8): Non-Fire Cooking. No flame, no heat. Think salads, sandwiches and canapes, the small decorated bite-sized toasts.
- Category II (Classes 9 to 12): Fire Cooking. Students here work with burners and ovens to put together a main course.
One rule cuts across the whole contest: no non-vegetarian food is allowed in the fire-cooking category, and semi-cooked or ready-made products won’t pass anywhere.
How the contest climbs
YICC runs at three levels. Here’s the path a student takes.
| Level | Where | Who competes |
|---|---|---|
| School | Inside your own school | Students compete individually; top two per category form a team |
| Regional | Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai | Only school-level winners, now paired into teams of two |
| National (Finale) | Chandigarh | Top regional teams, judged by chefs and industry experts |
At the school round, teachers score entries using rubrics CBSE supplies, and the two best students in each category qualify together as a team for the regional stage. The whole cooking process gets photographed and filmed, partly to keep judging fair and partly so clips can be shared on the CBSE portal or telecast.
Judging stays the same across all levels, out of 100 marks. Taste, flavour and aroma carry 30 marks. Texture, doneness and presentation carry another 30. The rest is split across hygiene, nutrition, creativity and how cleanly a student runs the workspace.
Dates and how to sign up
The registration form is at https://forms.gle/4wvspQt1FxPQkcMD6.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Last date to register | August 1, 2026 |
| Last date to hold YICC in your school | August 15, 2026 |
| Participation fee at any level | NIL |
| School round | July to August 2026 |
| Regional round | September to October 2026 |
| National round (Chandigarh) | November to December 2026 |
Before the regional and national rounds, professional chefs will run skill workshops covering healthy cooking, kitchen hygiene, knife and tool safety, plating, and fire safety for the senior students.
Participation is open only to regular students of CBSE-affiliated schools, and the nomination form needs a consent letter signed by a parent or guardian. Schools with questions can write to drpoojaakshay.cbse@gmail.com.