There are two age divisions

• 10 and under, known as Kid’s Q
• 11 through 16, now known as JuniorQ
Mission
• The mission of youth contests is to support youth in their quest to learn to cook and barbeque in a safe and fair competition, while continuing to build the future of BBQ, cooking, and the American Way of Life.
Kid’s Q Division
• The younger kids will prepare, cook, and box their entries from their sponsor team’s site. Parents should let the kids do as much as they are capable of, given age and abilities.
• The emphasis in this age group is bonding with their family/friends, learning how to cook and growing their skills with familiar mentors.
• The focus should be to encourage kids to have fun while learning.
Junior Q Division
• The older kids will get to compete in a kid-only environment, and allowed to challenge their peers much like they do in any other sport or activity that hosts competitions and tournaments.
• Parents can encourage their children, but cannot help/do any of the cooking. Each entry shall be cooked by one child only.
• The child must do the preparation, cooking and presentation. This means that the child should be able to put his/her own protein on the grill/smoker, turn his/her own protein on the grill/smoker, remove the protein from the grill/smoker, and do
all garnishing (if garnish is being used).
• Must be able to temp and flip their own food.
• Are allowed to bring written or pictorial notes with them for guidance but must be able to read/follow it themselves. It helps if the children make these note sheets themselves.
• Competitors should trim any of their meats, as needed, and volunteers will be available to help as necessary.
• For any child who has any disabilities, or other condition that may prohibit them from being able
to compete solely on their own, it is recommended their parent or guardian reach out to the Rep and/or Organizer as early as practical so that reasonable accommodations can be made.

Kid’s Que Cook’s Packet/Letter (to be delivered prior to the competition): All of the above information shall be
included in a “cook’s packet” for the Kid’s Que competitors. In addition, this packet/letter should include:

• A list of items needed: This shall include (but is not limited to:):
- Rubs, sauces, and other ingredients to be used in preparation of entry

- Garnish, if used
- Cutting boards - if not provided by organizer
- Gloves
-The type of meat being cooked, and if provided, the quantity/weight of product.
-Garnish is optional. If used, the standard KCBS garnish rules apply. Organizers may adjust garnish rules for the younger kids as they see fit. This could allow for different garnish, box decorating, etc. in order to increase the fun and creativity for the younger division.
Volunteers in Cooking Arena (Older age group)
• Organizers should ensure that there will be enough volunteers in the Junior Q area to:
- assist with cutting
- open and close grill and vents, if requested by Junior Que Cook
- Assist with fire management (starting fires, etc.)
- remind kids to wear/change gloves and wipe up blood or juices to avoid cross contamination
- pick up dropped food for disposal.
• No temping instruction can be given due to the variance of individual instruction styles. It is the competitor’s responsibility to be aware of any minimum food safe temperature.
• This staff shall be chosen by the organizer in c onjunction with the KCBS Rep to avoid family friends of competitors, fellow cook teams, or anyone else who may be inclined to over-assist the cooks.
• These volunteers must be CLEARLY briefed on their scope before the contest starts.
• These rules and guidelines will provide the kid competitors a fair and safe space to learn what we already have a love of BBQ and competitive cooking.