Now that it's been almost a week since I announced the first winners of the Prepper Cook-Off Challenge and things have had time to digest (pun intended), I would like to get some feedback on ways I might be able to improve the future renditions of this challenge. What things would you change if it was up to you and why?

My Thoughts

I only had 8 qualified entries to judge so this was below my expectations for quantity but the quality of the entries was well above my expectations. Some of the entrants went above and beyond and the competition and creativity was fierce. In the hopes of getting more participation, I had allowed people to enter without actually making the meal but no-one decided to do so. With good reason, that type of entry might have had entertainment value but would not have been competitive for a prize.

The three main ingredients I used to make my apocalypse meal with.

Considering that I had eight valid entries that were all cooked, going forward I think all entries will need to actually be cooked and documented.

 
What did you think of the prize pool? I thought SBI (Steem Basic Income) would be well received but maybe people would be more interested in STEEM or SBD? I feel that one benefit to the prizes being mostly SBI are that it weeds out people that aren't interested in producing quality content over a long period of time.

I may add separate awards for achievements other than just top three overall. For example, there could be bonus prizes for the most creative meal or gag worthy meal, even if the entry wasn't the best overall. This might be fun and also encourage people without the best cooking or blogging skills to participate.

Regardless of the prize pool mix, I think I will put up a larger prize pool for the next rendition of the Prepper Cook-Off Challenge.

 
I am also open to sponsorship. If anyone would like to chip into the prize pool they would be prominently featured as a sponsor in the challenge posts.

Rules and Judging

For the most part, people did their best to follow the rules. I changed a few rules on the fly to be more accommodating to people that didn't have access to common western storable food items but I think I need to clarify some rules further and also make some additional adaptations.

You could do a lot worse than having a pantry like this and likely will if you enter the next Prepper Cook-Off Challenge! / Source

What do you think about two sets of food items? Group A would be mainly western foods, like in the first challenge, and group B that would have more international items? Entrants could declare what group they want to be in before rolling and would not be able to switch afterwards. Of course, I would probably need your help coming up with the group B food list. Or would this just overcomplicate things?

Alternatively, I could theme challenges by region with region specific food items. Although, this might then exclude people from western countries instead.

I also feel like I need to clarify the judging system a little. I think that I did a pretty good job of outlining the criteria but I think making it a bit more detailed and explaining how it is a point system might help people understand the placings. Although, I didn't have any complaints so maybe I am worried about nothing.

I would also be open to other people helping to judge but it is a fair bit of work and I wouldn't want judges also participating due to conflict of interest. How did you feel about the judging is there room for clarification or improvement?

Could this be the location of the next Prepper Cook-Off Challenge? / Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Closing

I think that about sums up my thoughts on improvements to the challenge. The next challenge will be held soon (a few weeks max) and even if I don't make any huge changes the food list will change a bit just to make things interesting. I would like your feed back so please feel free to give any suggestions on the areas I mentioned and anything else you think would increase the participation level and fun factor.

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