Category : BasqueStage, Registration
- Important Changes in BasqueStage Application Process: Round 1 -
If you are previously familiar with the Sammic Scholarship for BasqueStage, you will know that this year, the application process looks a bit…different.
Several factors have motivated us to revise the way we choose our scholarship winners, resulting in a process that we believe is more streamlined, user-friendly, and conducive to finding us the best possible candidates. The process has been broken down into two stages. In this post, we’ll talk about Stage 1.
STAGE 1 (20TH FEBRUARY – 30TH MARCH)
The first stage will take place between February 20, 2012 and March 30, 2012, after which the applications for the scholarship will no longer be accepted.
This stage requires candidates to submit personal information, the address of their blog and twitter accounts, and answer a short question: Why do you want to be a candidate at Basque Stage?
What if you don’t have a blog or twitter account? You should still apply, but we strongly encourage you to open one, even if it is empty at the time of registration.
This simple process should take about ten minutes, and it gives us the information we need to choose thirty candidates to proceed to Round 2. These thirty candidates will be named April 1 on the BasqueStage website. More on the requirements of Round 2 later!
Category : BasqueStage, Registration, Rules, Sammic Scholarship, Selection Process
Disculpa, pero esta entrada está disponible sólo en English.
If you follow BasqueStage via Twitter, Facebook, or our blog, you know that our current stages, Marco and Cameron, are working hard and playing hard in the kitchen of Martín Berasategui.
You may also know they have a privileged position, learning as stages in a three-star restaurant but with all their expenses paid, as special Sammic scholars.
But do you know that it’s almost time to begin the III Sammic Scholarship for BasqueStage application process? And that you, or an aspiring chef you know, has the chance to do the same?
The BasqueStage Scholarship is a collaboration between Sammic, a European company that manufactures equipment for professional kitchens, and Martin Berasategui, one of the most renowned chefs in the world with over a dozen Michelin stars to his name.
It’s a program that carries on the tradition of nurturing young chefs, which is one of the peculiar characteristics of the culinary community of Basque Country, and one of the principal reasons it is home to more Michelin stars per person than anywhere else in the world. The stages work at Berasategui’s three-star restaurant in Lasarte, Spain, just outside of San Sebastián in the Basque Region of Spain. The jury that chooses the two winners is packed with culinary luminaries, such as Daniel Bouloud, Thomas Keller, and Pedro Subijana. BasqueStage winners receive a 6-month, all-expense-paid stage and have an instant platform to share their experiences with other chefs and lovers of food, through blog, video and social media.
Tracy Chang and Athena Thickstun were the winners of the first round of BasqueStage, which took place from January 2011 to June 2011. Their rich experience here, immersed in the kitchen life at Martín Berasategui as well as the enchanting community of Basque Country, has been chronicled for you to enjoy. You can read about their past adventures, and what they’ve gotten up to since then, on their blogs: tracyfearless.com and athenathickstun.com). Or if you’re wondering what advice they would leave to their successors, on the BasqueStage blog they left two letters of advice for all future stages.
Our II Sammic Scholars, the promising young cooks Marco Bahena and Cameron Rolka, are still in their honeymoon period at the restaurant. Follow them by the minute on the adventure of a lifetime!
Do you want to be the next Sammic Scholar for BasqueStage? As we’ve mentioned, for the third round of BasqueStage, we are opening the scholarship up to all nationalities! While the previous grants were limited to the USA, the amount of interest from other countries has prompted us to open the playing field to young cooks everywhere. We are in the process of contacting schools, restaurants, media and others about BasqueStage. If you need more information, all you have to do is contact us at info@basquestage.com.
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To keep up with BasqueStage, you can follow us on Twitter or Facebook, in addition to keeping up with the official blog.
Category : BasqueStage, Registration, Sammic Scholarship, Selection Process
The second round of BasqueStage opened to applications last week, and the interest shown has been incredible. We are receiving the first wave of candidate applications as we speak. You will be able to keep up with the applicants just like last year on our webpage, www.basquestage.com. The first step to applying is registering your basic information: name, email and the like. Then, you must submit your resumé and an essay. The last step is filming a video that shows us your communication skills and personality. It is only after THIS video is uploaded that your name will be visible on the Candidate section of our website. Don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter to keep up to date on the recent developments, too.
So remember: your candidacy will not show up on the Candidate List until you submit both registration AND video. But don’t worry, we have your information and you are registered. So get filming!
I Sammic Scholarship within BasqueStage project is aimed at young chefs and recent graduates living in the United States of America. Despite this, and given the attractiveness of what we offer, we are also receiving applications from other countries.
Unfortunately, we have no choice but to reject these candidates as the first point of the contest rules says clearly who can apply for I Sammic Scholarship. We read all the CV’s and essays we receive and, sometimes, we find it hard to reject certain applications, since they come from enthusiastic, capable and well prepared candidates… despite nationality.
BasqueStage team considered necessary to limit the call at least in the early editions of the Scholarship, and chose the United States of America for the first edition for several reasons:
First of all, as we ignore the dimension that the project can reach, we tried to focus our effort in a particular geographical area. Second, decided to launch the first edition of Sammic Scholarships in a country where Sammic has a direct presence in order to make the necessary arrangements in situ. Third, among countries in which Sammic has a subsidiary, USA is the largest one and where we might expect the best response.
That said, do not discard to address to other countries or regions, and even launch an open call for future editions of the Sammic Scholarship. Stay tuned!
A few days before planned, we are proud to announce that the candidates can already apply for I Sammic Scholarship, organized by BasqueStage and sponsored by Sammic and Chef Martín Berasategui.
We know that the material the candidates must provide us with requires a little bit of work because part of it must be prepared exclusively for this project. Therefore, the candidates will require some time to have it all ready.
BasqueStage has thought about it and gives the possibility to register for the Scholarship without having to provide the project with all the material at the same time. Once approved the candidacy by BasqueStage jury, the lucky candidate will receive an e-mail with a unique address to complete his application during the open period.
What are you waiting for? Register here!