What To Know About JWU's Future Food Scholarship Program

Author Miranda Hasani '25 is a Sports, Entertainment, Event — Management major and works as a student assistant at JWU, contributing to JWU News.

Johnson & Wales University is committed to providing financial support to students through scholarships, grants and other aid. This has allowed so many students, including myself, to get an affordable education. 

There are a wide variety of JWU scholarships that incoming students may be eligible for. One of these scholarship opportunities includes the Future Food Scholarship Program, which offers renewable scholarships for $1,000 and $5,000, as well as a top award of full tuition to JWU for four years! 

Hosted by JWU’s College of Food Innovation & Technology (CFIT), this scholarship program caters to high school seniors and transfer students who are interested in following a career path in the culinary realm. Students are invited to submit formulas/recipes for fully composed savory or sweet dishes. Their entries are evaluated, and the top four finalists in each category are invited to JWU’s Providence or Charlotte Campus to make their dish in person for a panel of judges. The winner of each category receives full tuition at Johnson & Wales for four years. 

Meet last year’s winner, Gabby Smith ’28.  

If this sounds like something you’d want to apply for, you’re going to need all the details. Here’s everything you need to know about the Future Food Scholarship Program and how to apply. 

Who is eligible to apply to the scholarship program? 

U.S. high school seniors and transfer students who have applied, been accepted or have submitted their deposit to JWU Charlotte or JWU Providence to study the following in-person, undergraduate programs: 

• Applied Food Science 
• Baking & Pastry Arts (A.S. or B.S.) 
• Culinary Arts (A.S. or B.S.) 
• Culinary Nutrition 
• Culinary Science & Product Development 
• Dietetics and Applied Nutrition 
• Food & Beverage Industry Management 
• Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship 

Only applications that have been submitted before the submission deadline will be eligible. This year’s deadline is January 15, 2025. 

If you haven’t applied to JWU yet, you can submit your no-fee JWU application or apply through the Common App by visiting our application website. 

Apply to JWU 

Once you apply to JWU, you’ll have access to an admissions portal where you can see the status of your application, updates and more. If you have indicated your interest in one of the programs listed above, you will see the Future Food Scholarship Program appear in your Admissions Checklist in the portal. Click it to begin your application to the program. 

What do you need to apply? 

To apply for the Future Food Scholarship Program, students must complete the program application. There are two categories to choose from: savory or sweet. The application must include a full recipe, 1-2 color photos of a finished plate of the recipe and an essay. The recipes should address one or more critical food system challenges, such as carbon footprint and ecological damage, food waste or cost-conscious nutritional outcomes. Essays should be no more than 300 words, and they should describe how the student addresses the pressing food system concern(s) through their recipe. 

Savory recipe submissions must include recipes for an entree and any/all appropriate accompaniments, garnishes or sauces. Entrees can feature meat proteins, fish and seafood, vegan or vegetarian ingredients.   

Sweet recipe submissions must include an individual serving of the main item, one or multiple sauces, an edible garnish and a crunch component. 

All recipes must be original and include 100% from-scratch ingredients (no pudding mixes, cake mixes, jarred sauces, dried pasta, etc.). Most importantly, they need to be able to be prepared within the time constraints that are in place for the in-person portion of the scholarship program. 

Applicants in the savory category are given 15 minutes for setup, 75 minutes for fabricating/cooking/baking four portions of the finished plate and 10 minutes for plating. 

Applicants in the sweet category are given 25 minutes for setup, 120 minutes for fabricating/cooking/baking four portions of the finished plate, 10 minutes for plating. 

How are entries judged? 

Each eligible submission is evaluated for its creativity and overall quality of the recipe, essay content and writing quality, plate presentation and the effectiveness of how the recipe can address the food system challenge(s) chosen. 

Students with the top four preliminary scores in each recipe category (sweet and savory) will be invited to JWU’s Providence or Charlotte campus for the final in-person program. Each finalist will produce four finished plates of their dish within the allotted time. JWU faculty, staff and guest judges will be judging and scoring these finished dishes according to taste and presentation.  

Who earns a scholarship? 

The top nine submissions in each category (a total of 18 students) will be awarded JWU academic scholarships through this program. Students who place 5th-9^th each receive $1,000 scholarships that are renewable for four years while at JWU ($4,000 total value). Students who place 2nd-4th each receive $5,000 scholarships renewable for four years at JWU ($20,000 total value). 

The Top Tier Award of full tuition coverage for four years is awarded to the two students who have placed 1st in each category. This year, the first-place students’ high schools will also be awarded a RATIONAL i-Combi Pro oven, provided by program supporter, RATIONAL. 

Ready to get creative and earn a scholarship? Visit the Future Food Scholarship site to see all the official rules and start the application process.  

Future Food Scholarship Program 

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