These days it seems there's a recipe contest for just about every category of food, using products from chili to chicken. With all the money and prizes available, thousands of people enter cooking and recipe contests each year.
Some entrants simply send in a favorite recipe they already have in their collection.
But other people work really hard to come up with something new and creative that might please the contest judges. My family taste-tested many, many sandwiches before I came up with just the right ingredients. McCleskey invented her sandwich as part of a health class project for which each student had to create a sandwich. Their teacher, Pam Wellhausen, selected the best creations to enter in the contest. Because McCleskey was a grand prize winner, the school received matching prize money to buy equipment.