LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) — A local chef is vying for national honors, and needs your help.

Chef Whitney Gardiner, owner of Chef’s Kiss Catering, is a quarterfinalist in the Carla Hall presents Favorite Chef online competition. The nationwide contest started out with over 80,000 entrants, which was whittled down to 1,000, and Gardiner is currently in ninth place.

One chef will win $25,000 and appear in a 2-page spread in Taste of Home magazine.

As mentioned Tuesday morning on Passe Partout, the contest relies on online voting. The link where people can go to vote is: favchef.com/2023/whitney-gardiner.

The online competition is part of a fundraising campaign where donations from votes cast during the competition will go to the James Beard Foundation.