FINALISTS in the 2003 Nation-wide Young Cook of the Year competition will test their skills at Swindon College tomorrow.

They will be trying to impress a panel of judges including Andrew Litchfield, head of community relations at Nationwide, Tom Hales, from the Swindon College catering department, and Pete Vaughan from the Healthy Life campaigning group in Devizes.

There are eight finalists from schools across Swindon.

The competition is aimed at Year 7-8 and Year 9-10 pupils and overall winners in each age group will collect £350 for their school and £75 for themselves.

The aim of the competition is to encourage school pupils to take a greater interest in English cuisine and the nutritional benefits of eating a balanced diet, and to build awareness of traditional English fare.

The finalists will be required to create two dishes suitable for a main course and a starter or dessert.

The meal should be healthy, tasty and nutritionally balanced.

Where possible, it should use ingredients traditionally produced in Wiltshire.

Mr Litchfield said: "We have been impressed with the culinary skills of local youngsters, and although it's going to be a tough job to select the overall winners, it's also going to be very tasty."