2007 World's Championship Red

WOW!!! Another awesome World's Championship Chili Cookoff!!

1st WORLD CHAMPION - Jerry Buma $30,000
2nd - Peter Skwiers $2,500
3rd - Diane Lentz $1,000
4th - Mike Kropp $700
5th - Richard Chauvin $500

2007 World's Champion - Jerry Buma

Back Row (l to r): Carol Hancock ICS CEO, Mike Kropp 4th,

Richard Chauvin 5th, David Hipskind ICS Chief Judge

Front Row (l to r): Peter Skwiers 2nd, Jerry Buma World's Champion, Diane Lentz 3rd

Finals Table

• Mike Kropp
• Richard Chauvin
• Georgia Weller
• Dan Bauer
• Paul Whitney
• Richard Dowling
• Lynea Jones
• Ed Pierczyski
• Mike Hulka
• James Rasey
• Kit Hoff
• Peter Skwiers
• Bob Plager
• Bob Alexander
• Al Henry
• Kim Eckley
• Mick Joplin
• Richard Drum
• Darol Wetzel
• Carrie Lentz
• Rich Omerza
• Dick Swenberger
• Bill Donovan
• Sachiko Brecke
• Jerry Buma
• Diane Lentz
• Gail Donovan
• Faye Mulligan
• Scott Ruff
• Nancy Swenberger
  

People's Choice - Sunday

The people of Omaha came out in droves to taste some great chili and to watch a World's Championship Cookoff! There was a lot of great chili and a lot of tasting and when the votes were counted here is who the people selected:

(shown left to right)

1st - Mark Johnson $300
2nd - Bill Dudzik $200
3rd - Lynea Jones $100

Thanks to all of you for coming out to the cookoff and taking the time to vote for your favorite cook!

Red Chili - Restaurant Division

1st - Alex Becker - Texas Roadhouse
2nd - Josh Benson - HyVee
3rd - Harry Poulos - Katie's Restaurant

Best Booth

One of the great traditions at chili cookoffs is to pick a theme and decorate your booth and wear a costume. The ICS cooks love to have fun and the judges picked these cooks in the Best Booth contest:

1st - Bill Donovan $500
2nd - Domino Ireland $200
3rd - Peter Skwiers $100
(shown right to left)

Other Contests

We had a great turnout for our fun categories and here are our winners:

Miss Chili Pepper
Makayla Patrick $100

Mr. Hot Sauce
Wayne Turner $100

Shoot-N-Holler sponsored by Corazon Tequila
Armando Sanchez $100

Grand Masters & Masters

Congratulations to our new Grand Master Cooks:
(11th time cooking in the World's Championship)

• Les Eastep
• Jim Stoddard
• Judy Wedemeyer
• Bob Wetzel
• Darol Wetzel

Congratulations to our new Master Cooks:
(6th time cooking in the World's Championship)

• Bill Donovan
• Ken Horn
• Erika (Tomasek) Knutson
• James Richards
• Nancy Swenberger
• Greg Virant
• Lynn Kost Virant
• Paul Whitney

Hat Trick Winners

Hat Trick winners - those people that qualified for the 2007 World's Championship Chili Cookoff in all 3 categories: Red Chili, Chili Verde and Salsa.

2007 World's Championship Chili Verde

The Final's Table was packed with some awesome chili! The judges scores were counted up and a new World Champion was crowned:

1st - WORLD CHAMPION - Kimberly Mallory, Ohio $3,000
2nd- Dave Lorenz, NJ $700
3rd - James Heywood $300
4th - Charlie Ward
5th - TIE Christian Parker and Rhone Carr

James Heywood 3rd, Dave Lorenz 2nd, Kimberly Mallory WORLD CHAMPION,

Carol Hancock ICS CEO, David Hipskind ICS Chief Judge

James Heywood 3rd, Dave Lorenz 2nd, Kimberly Mallory WORLD CHAMPION

Chili Verde - Finals Table

• Mary Ann Smith
• James Richards
• Sherrie Sutton
• Lynn Pruett
• Harry C. Robinson
• Scott Barrett
• Mary Nicoll
• James Heywood
• Judith Omerza
• Nancy Swenberger
• Raymond Bogart
• Charlie Ward
• Larry Weltikol
• George Swick
• Scott Navaroli
• Jerry Simmons
• Wes Carlson
• Lloyd Wier
• David Schulman
• Dave Lorenz
• Barbara Herrin
• Christian Parker
• Kay Rook
• Diane Gatshet
• Rhone Carr
• Kimberly Mallory
• Larry Lentz
• Diane Lentz
• Chuck Hoff
• Jim Parker

Congratulations to all the cooks!

2007 World's Championship Salsa

Lots of great cooks and lots of great salsas! Here are this years winners:

1st - WORLD CHAMPION - Barbara Ward $1,000
2nd - Bonnie Tomasek $500
3rd - Chris Nicoll $300

Chris Nicoll 3rd, Barbara Ward 1st, Bonnie Tomasek 2nd

Finals Table

• Sherrie Sutton
• Lori Walter
• George Swick
• Diane Lentz
• Bonnie Tomasek
• Chuck Hoff
• Scott Navaroli
• Chris Nicoll
• Kim Swierczek
• Mary Nicoll
• Scott Barrett
• John Jepson
• Dione Cooley
• Skip Cooley
• Jodi Wiseman
• John Ammerman
• Mike Kropp
• Mary Alice Kropp
• Carolyn Roy
• Marian Donato
• Susie Decker
• Butch Sutton
• Christian Parker
• Barbara Ward
• Jackie Golterman

Salsa cooks at turn-in

People's Choice - Saturday

It was a great day, the weather was beautiful and the people of Omaha came out to enjoy of a day of family fun and taste some great chili! Everyone grabbed a sample kit and strolled around to talk to the cooks and taste some chili. Ballots were stationed around the cookoff area and the votes were tallied. Omaha selected the following winners:

1st - Jerry Simmons $300
2nd - Jim Beaver $200
3rd - Leroy Watson $100

Thanks to all the chili cooks and thanks to Omaha for coming out to help judge some chili!

Last Chance Results

What an awesome day! We had over 50 cooks participating in the Last Chance Cookoff. This cookoff provides one "last chance" for cooks to qualify for the WCCC event. The top 10 finishers in this event earned a spot to cook in the Traditional RED competition on Sunday and have a shot at the $25,000 prize money!!!

Last Chance Winners
(in alphabetical order)

• Maureen Barrett
• Gail Donovan
• Ghon Eckley
• Kevin Foley
• Herb Holman
• Mike Kropp
• Christian Parker
• Barbara Ward
• Charlie Ward
• Nibs Waters

Good luck on Sunday!

People's Choice - Friday

The spectators got in on the action and voted for their favorite chili during the Last Chance cookoff. Here are your winners:

People's Choice
(winners and prize money)

1st - Debbie Turner $300
2nd - Rob Wolfe $200
3rd - Vicki Esford $100

Thanks to all of you who voted! Be sure to come back tomorrow for the Chili Verde and Salsa competition and you don't want to miss the Traditional Red Chili Championship on Sunday!

Good Luck Chiliheads!

Over 300 of the best chiliheads in the world are heading to Omaha to take part in the 41st annual World's Championship Chili Cookoff presented by HyVee and produced by the ICS and Downtown Omaha, Inc! We will be crowning our 2007 World Champions in three categories: Traditional Red, Chili Verde and Salsa. We want to wish all our outstanding cooks the best of luck!

We also want to invite all the local Omaha residents to come out and join us! It will be a great weekend of food, music, merchandise and fun! Come taste some great chili and try to pick out the World Champions!

Taking Photos?

We know you all have cameras and love taking pictures. Now you can share those great shots with all the ICS Members. Just email your pics to photos@chilicookoff.com and we will post them on the website. Thanks!!!

Welcome from the ICS Web Team

This year the ICS Web Team will be in Omaha at the 41st Annual World's Championship Chili Cookoff to join in on all the activities. We will be posting winners and pictures to this blog so you can see the results as they happen. Check back often!