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For immediate release:
June 28, 2006
Perth Centre apprentice creates culinary history
The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre (Perth Centre) is leading the way in shaping the future of
Western Australia’s culinary profession, with three of its apprentice chefs claiming medals at the
esteemed ‘2006 Apprentice Chef of the Year’ competition this week.
Thirdyear apprentice Jessica Donald (21, of Kenwick) created history as the firstever chef to take
out the top honour of ‘2006 Overall Apprentice Chef of the Year’ for two years running. Jessica also
won the gold medal for ‘Third Year Apprentice Chef of the Year’.
The Overall Apprentice Chef of the Year title is regarded as the State’s most prestigious accolade for
emerging chefs and is awarded based on the highest pointscoring performance across all four
apprenticeship years. The unprecedented victory by Jessica saw her beat more 88 entrants in the
contest, including 20 finalists.
Reflecting on her success, Jessica said the many hours of hard work to get through to the finals and
then win the top title had been worth it.
“It’s a huge honour to win this title and it means so much to me, especially for my longterm career in
hospitality. It’s a great accolade and is overwhelming!”
The Perth Centre’s representation in this year’s Australian Culinary Federation of Western Australia
(ACF WA) competition was strong on all fronts, with all three of its entrants having won titles in 2005
in each of their respective apprenticeship years. In 2005, Kate Swift (25, of South Lake) won ‘First
Year Apprentice Chef of the Year’, while Lauren Fabiankovits (22, of Swan View) won ‘Third Year
Apprentice Chef of the Year’.
This year, on top of Jessica’s success, Kate and Lauren both claimed silver medals for ‘Second Year
Apprentice Chef of the Year’ and ‘Fourth Year Apprentice Chef of the Year’ respectively.
Both Jessica and Lauren have worked at the Perth Centre since its opening in August 2004, while
Kate has spent the past year as part of the team.
Jessica’s everincreasing success in the kitchen has seen her chosen to represent the State in a team
competing at Australia’s premier cooking competition, the Melbourne Culinary Challenge (formerly
Salon Culinaire), to be held at Melbourne Exhibition Centre from September 11 to 14.
Intense preparation pays off
Jessica, Kate and Lauren work as part of a busy kitchen team at the Perth Centre, led and mentored
by multiawardwinning Executive Chef Adrian Tobin. The team’s unique menu concepts have
become among the most talkedabout in the events industry in Australia, and receive continual
accolades from clients across the globe.
According to Adrian, the girls’ intense and relentless preparation for the Apprentice Chef of the Year
competition was responsible for the winning results they achieved on the day.
“We are all thrilled with Jessica’s performance and she is very deserving of retaining the top
Apprentice Chef of the Year title,” Adrian said.
“All three girls put in an extraordinary amount of effort and energy to get through to the finals. The
competition is so tough, they needed to show real commitment and skill and put in many long hours of
preparation.
“It’s a huge challenge to retain a title and even harder when you are busy at work, so their training
time usually started when everyone else had gone home.
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For immediate release:
June 28, 2006
“The final outcome for Jessica has never been achieved before, and both Kate and Lauren are to be
commended on taking out a silver medal each.”
Adrian, himself, is also in competition mode, though on a more global scale. He was recently
appointed Team Captain of the National Culinary Olympic Team, which is preparing to compete
against more than 1,000 chefs from 33 countries at the International Culinary Olympics to be held in
Erfurt, Germany in 2008. Held once every four years, the Olympics is regarded as the most
prestigious culinary competition in the world.
Background
The Perth Centre showcases foods synonymous with Western Australia, through the use of fresh,
local ingredients, combined with an innovative and contemporary approach to tastes and
presentations.
The kitchen is one of the largest in Western Australia. A massive 2,000 square metres (or more than
half an acre) in size, it caters for up to 10,000 meals per day, all individually prepared with a personal
touch and fivestar, restaurant quality.
The $220 million Perth Centre is the year’s most awarded convention, exhibition and meeting venue
in Australia, having won six highlyacclaimed industry awards in as many months, including two top
culinary titles.
Award victories including the Catering Institute of Australia (WA) 2005 Gold Plate Award for Venue
Caterers; the 2005 Restaurant & Catering Industry Association of Australia (WA) for Function /
Convention Centre Catering; the 2005 Australian Tourism Award for ‘Meetings & Business Tourism’;
the Western Australian Tourism Awards; the 2005 Meetings & Events Australia (MEA) Meetings and
Events Industry Awards (WA) for best ‘Meeting Venue more than 500 delegates’; and the Kimberly
Clark Professional 2005 Golden Service Award.
In the Perth Centre’s first 21 months of operation (from August 2004 to May 2006), the venue
attracted well over one million visitors (1,072,387) to some 820 events. Of those events, 58 were
exhibitions and trade shows, while around 324 conferences and meetings lured in excess of 58,700
delegates. The massive followon contribution to the Western Australian economy is estimated to
have exceeded $32 million, with hotels, restaurants, bars, taxis and transport, retailers and other
tourismrelated businesses all benefiting from the business tourism windfall.
The Perth Centre is Western Australia’s only dedicated, purposebuilt convention, exhibition and
meeting venue. Spanning three levels, it caters for up to 5,000 delegates. Major facilities include a
2,500seat tiered auditorium, 19 specialist meeting rooms varying in size, six exhibition pavilions, and
a 1,700seat ballroom overlooking Perth’s stunning Swan River and city. The venue houses some of
the most advanced technical facilities and communications infrastructure in Australia, including the
country’s only accredited WIFI Zone wireless internet service.
For further information about the Perth Convention Exhibition Centre or to book an event, visit
www.perthcentre.com.au or phone +61 8 9338 0300.
ENDS.
Julie Cameron, PR Consultant
Jewels PR
T +61 8 9402 4477 / M +61 401 325 800
E julie@jewelspr.com.au
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