CCBS Contestant Rules:
1. Clinton County BBQ Society (CCBS) INTERPRETATION of RULES – The interpretation of the CCBS rules and regulations are at the discretion of the appointed CCBS Contest Event Coordinator present at the contest and his or her decisions are final. The CCBS Contest Event Coordinator may not cook in any category in that contest.
2. CONTESTANT – A contestant is defined as any individual, group, restaurant, etc. hereinafter referred to as a “team”, which will prepare and/or cook an entry or entries, for the purpose of being judged according to CCBS rules and regulations, at a CCBS sanctioned contest. Each team will be comprised of a Pit Master and as many team members as you wish, with one assigned spokesperson. An organizer of an event shall not participate in that specific event. A Pit Master and/or team members may cook only for their designated team at any contest where they are participating. No team shall enter more than one turn-in box per meat category in a contest. All teams must have at least one person present at the mandatory cooks meeting held the morning of the cook at 8:30AM.
3. CONTESTANT’S SITE – Each team will have a designated cooking site. All equipment must stay within the designated boundaries. Each team is responsible for maintaining a clean, safe and orderly cooking space, before, during and after the competition.
4. EQUIPMENT – Each team is responsible for providing their pit and/or pits, tents, tables and other equipment that may be needed. For safety reasons, all teams are required to have a fire extinguisher on site at all times.
5. MEAT – Prior to cooking, all meat that is resting in preparation for cooking must be covered and maintained at 40 degrees F. If contest organizer provides the meat, they shall have it available from 4:00PM-8:00PM the evening prior to the event. If contest organizer provides the meat the Pit Master shall ONLY cook the meat provided for judging and people’s choice. If the contest organizer does not provide the meat, then the organizer must be available to inspect meat at 4:00PM-8:00PM the evening prior to the event. If contestant cannot make that time frame, they must make arrangements with the contest organizer. Meat shall not be injected only trimmed prior to inspection. All contestants will sign a waiver once meat is received. Meat can be inspected day of cook if deemed necessary. If meat is caught in cooking site that was not meat provided you will be disqualified from that event and all entry fee money forfeited. If there is suspicion of different meat other than the provided meat after the event a special meeting will be called to order and the contestant will lose points for that specific event for all categories. Contestant will be expelled from CCBS if caught cheating in any form which includes using any meat other than what is provided. Also, the contestant will be required to return any trophies and prize money won for that event.
6. MEAT CATEGORIES – The following categories are sanctioned by the CCBS:
a. Chicken: drums, wings, thighs
b. Pork ribs: Ribs will include bones. Country style ribs, chopped, pulled, or sliced rib meat loose in the box are prohibited.
c. Pork: It may be turned in chopped, pulled, chunked, sliced or a combination of any of these
d. Beef Brisket: May be turned in sliced, chopped, chunked and/or burnt ends or a combination of any of these
1. Ancillary Meats
a. Pork Steaks: 6 pieces minimum or 1 whole pork steak
b. Pork Loin: 6 pieces minimum
c. Mystery Meat: Enough for 6 judges
7. MEAT TEMPERATURES – All meats must be cooked to a minimum internal temperature based off USDA guidelines for safe consumption, please see this link for your reference. www.fsis.usda.gov
8. TURN IN TIMES – Official turn-in times will be announced at Pit Master’s meeting and will typically be posted on the organizers event on the CCBS website. The allowable turn-in times will be 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after the announced/posted time with no tolerance. If a team is in line before the time clock is turned over, they may turn in their entry. Any others after that will be disqualified. The identifying team number must be on the top of each container turn in.
1. Meat 1 – 12:00PM
2. Meat 2 – 12:45PM
3. Meat 3 – 1:30PM
4. Meat 4 – 2:15PM
5. Ancillary – 3:00PM
**** If there is not a meat 4 category then ancillary will be moved to 2:15PM****
9. JUDGING – Each turn in box will be judged as such.
a. Each entry will be judged on Appearance/Presentation, Taste/Flavor, and Tenderness/Texture. Entries will be submitted in approved CCBS container provided by the contest organizer, with the team number on the top.
b. Each contestant must submit at least 6 separate and identifiable portions of ribs and chicken. Pork and brisket may be submitted chopped, pulled, sliced or diced, or any combination thereof, as long as there is enough for 6 judges. If there is not enough meat for each judge to sample, the shorted judge(s) will score a 1 on all criteria, and all judges having sampled will change the appearance score to reflect a 1 with notification and approval from the judging event ambassador.
c. Garnishes are optional but recommended. If used, it is limited to chopped sliced or whole leaves of fresh green lettuce, curly parsley, flat leaf parsley, curly green leaf kale and/or cilantro. No vegetation allowed.
d. Sauce is optional and if used should be applied directly to the meat. No side sauce containers allowed.
e. Containers shall not be marked in any way which should make the container unique or identifiable. No foreign materials or stuffing are allowed in containers (such as aluminum foil, toothpicks, skewers, and etc.) Turn in boxes shall not be posted to social media prior to awards.
f. If the product is turned in and is disqualified, it receives a 1 in all criteria. Disqualified reasons: late turn-in, no bone in ribs, raw meat, etc.
g. Judges shall not intermingle with teams prior to judging, nor discuss turn in boxes they judged.
10. SCORING – Each entry will be scored by 6 CCBS certified judges in the areas of appearance/presentation, taste/flavor, and tenderness/texture. Scores may range from a high 9.0 to a low of 6.0 in each category. Any score given a 6 must be accompanied by a comment card.
11. CLEANLINESS AND SAFETY RULES – All federal, state and local food safety rules and regulations must be adhered to at all times. All teams are expected to maintain their cook sites in an orderly and clean manner, using good sanitary practices during all food preparation, cooking, and judging processes.
a. Sanitizing of work areas should be implemented with the use of bleach, and water rinse station (one cap/gallon water.) Each contestant will provide a separate container for washing, rinsing and sanitizing utensils, and other items used in preparation of meats.
b. A fire extinguisher is required at check-in time and must be accessible in each team’s cooking space and near all cooking devices at all times.
c. Proper cooking temperatures must be maintained at all times.
d. Shirt and shoes must be worn at all times.
e. No use of tobacco products is allowed while handling meat.
f. A first aid kit is not required to be provided by contestants, but we highly recommend you provide your own first aid and safety kit; except at the election of the contest organizer.
g. Teams are responsible for cleanup of their area once the competition has ended.
12. WINNERS – The winners in each meat category will be determined by dropping the lowest score and then adding the remaining scores together. The highest score will be 1st place and so on. The Grand Champion will be the team with the highest total points, and the Reserve Champion will be the team with the second highest total points. To qualify for either Grand or Reserve they must cook in all categories except ancillary. If there are ties in top 10 in any category or in the top 10 overall the following criteria is to be used to break the tie:
1. The highest dropped score
2. The highest taste score
3. The highest tenderness score
4. The highest appearance score
5. A flip of a coin
13. PEOPLE’S CHOICE – People’s choice meat will be provided by the event organizer; however the team shall not bring any extra meat that is being judged at that competition. All other meat, sides, desserts, drinks and etc. are acceptable for people’s choice. People’s choice will not go towards TOY points.
People’s choice shall NOT start prior to the first turn in time. Containers will be provided by event organizer to put samples in.
14. YEAR END POINTS CATEGORY SPECIFIC – To qualify for overall points you must be a CCBS member, your top 6 events will be your points used towards year end points. Your CCBS membership must be paid before or at your first cook of the season. If a team has not paid their dues their points are forfeited for all contests before the contest that their dues were paid. You do not have to cook in 6 events to qualify. In an event that there is a tie in any category the following criteria will be used to break the tie, in your top 6 events.
1. The total highest dropped score in the specific category of those top 6 events.
2. The total highest taste score in the specific category of those top 6 events.
3. The total highest tenderness score in the specific category of those top 6 events.
4. The total highest appearance score in the specific category of those top 6 events.
5. A flip of a coin
15. YEAR END POINTS TOY – To qualify for TOY you must be a CCBS member, your top 6 events will be your points used towards year end points. Your CCBS membership must be paid before or at your first cook of the season. If a team has not paid their dues their points are forfeited for all contest before the contest that their dues were paid. You do not have to cook in 6 events to qualify. If a contest is a CCBS bonus point contest the team will receive 10 additional points for cooking in the contest; if the team places in the top 3 overall you will receive an additional 5 points. In an event that there is a tie for TOY the following criteria will be used to break the tie.
1. The total highest dropped score of those top 6 events.
2. The total highest taste score of those top 6 events.
3. The total highest tenderness score in those top 6 events.
4. The total highest appearance score in those top 6 events.
5. Points structure are as follows:
1st – 250
2nd – 230
3rd – 210
4th – 190
5th – 170
6th – 160
7th – 150
8th – 140
9th – 130
10th – 120
11th – 115
12th – 110
13th – 105
14th – 100
15th – 95
16th – 90
17th down to last – 80
6. If a team member is not a CCBS member the points are still awarded to members at their current placing for the contest. For example:
1st – 250 Member Team 2nd – 230 Member Team 3rd – 210 Member Team
4th – Non-Member Team 5th – 170 Member Team 6th – 160 Member Team
7th – Non-Member Team 8th – 140 Member Team
16. BOARD MEMBERS – The executive board and board members can compete in CCBS events.
17. SOCIAL MEDIA – No photos of turn in boxes shall be posted on social media until awards have been presented. If you do post photos of your turn in boxes after the contest we do encourage you to tag CCBS in the post. We ask that all post about CCBS is in a positive manner and no negativity.
