Ivy Skaggs Finishes 7th in Nation in Cornbread Cooking Contest

Ivy Skaggs, a SEES 4-H student, placed 7th in the National Cornbread Cookoff in S. Pittsburgh, TN.

Darren Doyle, story:
Ivy Skaggs, a fourth grade student at South Edmonson Elementary, was among the best student chefs in the nation, recently finishing 7th in a national competition.

Ivy competed against nine other contestants at the National Cornbread Festival 4-H Cookoff in South Pittsburgh, TN on Sunday, April 26th.

The competition was open to all 4-H students, grades 4-6 from across the country, where over 1500 recipes were submitted. Those recipes were narrowed down to only ten, where Ivy was chosen to compete in this year's competition, which was also the 29th year for the cookoff. 
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Ivy, on stage during the cookoff.

According to Ivy's mother, Keela Skaggs, the competition was divided into two heats of five kids each, where Ivy was in heat #2 for the finals. The contestants competed live on stage in front of an audience where they had one hour to do all the preparation and then cook for themselves.  

Mrs. Skaggs said the only assistance they received was from a judge who helped with the hot iron skillet. 

"While cooking, Ivy had to answer questions that pertained to 4-H, her preparation, and her ingredients," she said. "By the end of the time, they had to have four sliced pieces for the judges and competition photographer.  It felt like a junior competition on Food Network.  She won $50 for being a finalist and a swag bag from Lodge."

Ivy along with her sister Tinsley and brother Oakley.

She also discussed how impressive the contest was.

"There were cameras everywhere to show all the preparation, cooking, and presentation of the cornbread by each contestant.  Every competitor was interviewed and their entire process was available for the public to see.  They expected the kids to keep their stations clean and presentable at all times and each kid did a great job. Ivy was the only finalist from Kentucky and even though she was nervous, she represented the Commonwealth very well during this competition."

She titled her recipe "Ivy's Kentucky Cornbread."

Ivy is the daughter of Nick and Keela Skaggs of Chalybeate. ​