Ramalakshmi Sundararajan (Telangana), and Nataliya (Russia) have emerged winners of Kerala Cuisine Contest 2020-21. The contest was initially scheduled for a six-month period from December 21, 2020, to June 21, 2021. But due to the overwhelming response, the contest was extended till August 31, 2021.
From among the 11,605 people who registered their names for the contest (8,600 from India and 3,005 from outside India), a total of 2,629 video entries were received. The entries were put up on the Kerala Tourism website for the public to cast votes. After an initial screening, 359 videos were shortlisted and uploaded to the official website of Kerala Tourism.
Among them, the top 10 winners (5 from India and 5 from outside India) along with their families (a maximum of four people including the winner) were offered a seven-day trip to Kerala.
The winners were selected by a four-member jury appointed by the Department of Tourism. It was later decided to include a consolation prize in view of the interest shown by the contestants in Kerala cuisine and their enthusiasm for incorporating the traditional Kerala cuisine into their competition video. As a result, 20 contestants from India and 10 from outside India will be given a consolation prize of Rs 5,000 each for their good performance.
In the inside India category, Ramalakshmi Sundararajan (Telangana), Vidhi Chugh (West Bengal), Jaya Narayan (Maharashtra), Himanandhini Prabakaran (Karnataka) and Vinny Sukanth (Andhra Pradesh) were the top five winners. In the outside India category, Nataliya (Russia), Adina Panta (U. K.), Nikita (Russia), Roxana Dana Saila (Romania) and Yuki Shimizu (Japan) were the top five winners.
To view the videos prepared by the winners, check https://www.keralatourism.org/contest/cuisine2020/results