With only 63 days until opening day of the 2019 State Fair of Texas, the competition to make it to the 15th Annual Big Tex Choice Awards is heating up.
State Fair concessionaires are busy perfecting their innovative offerings in hopes of getting into the final round of judging at the coveted event.
After the first round of judging, 33 semi-finalists – 20 savory and 13 sweet entries – are moving forward, putting these contenders one step closer to the main event, where they will compete for one of three winning titles: “Best Taste – Sweet,” “Best Taste – Savory,” and “Most Creative.”

The contest started in mid-July with 49 individual entries from 30 concessionaires. It is required that competitors have at least one year of experience as a concessionaire at the State Fair of Texas before entering.
Making past the first round requires contestants to be super creative with the name and description of their original creations.
Judges are looking for the food with the name and description that sounds most appealing to their personal palette, just like a fairgoer might do while at the Fair.
Over the next several weeks, the second round of preliminary judging will begin, and these edible creations will have to prove to the panel of judges that they are just as delicious as they sound.
The tasting round will judge each semi-finalist on, at minimum, four main ingredients of a finalist-worthy concoction: uniqueness, presentation, creativity and, of course, taste.
To keep everything fair and solely based on the food, judges sample each submission during a “blind judging” throughout the entire process.
Judges will also have to defend their rankings against the seemingly simple yet crucial question – how likely is a fairgoer to actually buy the item?
The top 10 finalists, to be announced in mid-August, will go on to compete live in the final round at this year’s Big Tex Choice Awards ceremony.
Even if your entry of choice does not make it to the main event, concessionaires can still choose to introduce their food at their stand as a “new food” during this year’s State Fair.
The 15th Annual Big Tex Choice Awards, presented by Metro by T-Mobile, will take place Sunday, August 25 at 2pm in the historic Tower Building at Fair Park.
A limited number of tickets are available online for $125. Tickets always sell out, so get yours fast. You do not want to miss the chance to view the competition while getting a first taste of this year’s new Fair foods.
All proceeds from the annual Big Tex Choice Awards competition are donated to the Big Tex Scholarship Program, which provides college scholarships to students across the Lone Star State.