The logo I've made (#51) represents a chef's hat, but it doesn't stop there. I thought of a way to incorporate both "cooking" and "contest" in the design. So the hat obviously represents the "cooking" and the top of the hat is a stylized podium representing "contest".
Please let me know your thoughts about the design.
Here's another idea (#59): the logo and text together form a chef's hat. The top part of the chef's hat represents the initials: "C", "C", "C". They are three different sizes to symbolize the 3 top contenders.