Sauce Contestant Entry Form

This application is for those entering their sauces into the hot sauce & bbq sauce contest!  NEWS: For 2023 you can now enter hot/bbq rubs! 

The NC Hot Sauce Contest and festival brings thousands of people to downtown Oxford interacting with friends, merchants, fans, artisans, and vendors with visitors topping 20,000 and 41% being first-time NC Hot Sauce attendees. North Carolina’s finest hot sauces and barbecue sauces, along with breweries and wineries spice up the blends and texture of downtown Oxford's historical streets. ​

CONTEST JUDGING PROCESS:

• All entries MUST be produced in North Carolina. 
• All entries MUST have a professionally labeled bottle (ready for retail). 
• Each entry MUST fill must mail in and submit their sauces, including the category sheet BEFORE August 1, 2023. 
• No entry will be accepted if "pepper extracts" are used in the ingredients. 

*All sauce samplings will be conducted under the strictest of standards using fair, impartial, and blind judging. All judging is done by the Vance-Granville Culinary Team.  SAUCE ENTRY PROCESS: 

• Print & fill out the entry form (attached) for EACH bottled sauce, listing the category that sauce is to be judged. 
• Mail one (1) bottle of each sauce to be judged to the NC Hot Sauce Office, 300 Williamsboro St., Oxford, NC 27565 by AUGUST 1, 2023. 
• A cash prize of $500 will be given to each category Champion and medals will be awarded to the runner ups in each category. 
• Champions will receive a jpg "winner" seal in recognition of the sauce as a 2023 NC Sauce Contest Winner.

                                 Winners will be announced at the Julia Overton Main Stage at 2:30 PM   In partnership with the Vance-Granville Community College Culinary Department - Sauces will be judged on the following:

• Heat Level
• Aroma
• Appearance
• Texture
• Taste
• Overall Impression