Are you glued to the TV when Masterchef comes on and are you a whiz with a whisk and a wonder with a wok?

If this describes you then you could be in line to become Tavistock's Junior Chef of the Year.

The Mail has teamed up with Tavistock Leisure, which owns Hartlepool's Grand Hotel and its fabulous Tavistock Italia restaurant, to try to find the region's best young chef.

This fabulous competition is open to anyone aged 14 to 18 and our winner will go in a grand final to compete against young would-be chefs from Sunderland and South Shields, where there are also branches of Tavistock Italia.

We'd like you to submit your favourite recipes – it could be one you've made up yourself or a variation on an old favourite that you've given your own unique twist to.

Send us the details with all the ingredients listed and the method – and then tell us about yourself. We want your name, address and age and how you came up with this recipe.

Our panel of judges will shortlist ten recipes which will then appear in the Mail – and our readers can vote for their favourite three.

Then it will be time to show off your cooking skills for real, with our three semi-finalists making their dishes in the kitchens of the Grand Hotel, under the scrutiny of our team of judges.

The Mail's finalist will then win a place in the grand cook-off, competing against the winners from our two sister papers, the Shields Gazette and the Sunderland Echo.

The winners from each restaurant will receive a trophy and £100 worth of Tavistock vouchers.

The overall winner will be awarded the title of Tavistock Junior Chef of the Year and will receive a trophy, £200 worth of Tavistock vouchers, cookery books and a whole host of other goodies. Prizes also include personalised chef's whites from corporate workwear specialists, Gateshead-based Logostitch and a set of Global knives for the overall winner.