BATON ROUGE, La. - s4story -- The 4th Annual Baton Rouge Soul Food Festival announces the Cooking Contest is now open. The five categories are Meats, Vegetable and Side Dishes, Breads and Desserts, Appetizers and Soups, Beverages and Ices. Criteria is Presentation, Taste, and Story or History behind the entry. Ten contestants in each category will be pre-selected by the judging committee. Entry fees are $20.00. $30.00 for walk-ups. Contestants need to bring enough food for six people the day of the festival. First, second and third place prizes will be awarded in each category. Downloadable forms and additional instructions are available on the website.

The festival is Saturday, June 26 from 11:00am to 8:00pm and Sunday, June 27 from 11:00am to 7:00pm at River Front Plaza, 300 River Road South, in Baton Rouge. The festival is family friendly, free to the public and features a Vendors Village. VIP tickets include food, beverages and photo ops.

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The Pioneer Award, presented on Saturday for outstanding contributions to the soul food industry is Lizzie's Restaurant, founded in 2016 by Lizzie Griffin's children Ricky and  Kwanda. Using her tried and true recipes the restaurant was an instant hit, as Lizzie was famous for lovingly making hearty soul food for patrons of the bar room Night Cap.

The talent lineup features gospel, contemporary Christian, soul, blues and R&B artists. Some of them to date include the blues, soul, funk reggae band Henry Turner, Jr. & Flavor and the Listening Room All-Stars Larry "LZ" Dillon, 'Nspire and the Inspire band, comedian Eddie "Cool" Deemer, artist Wyanda Paul, Pastor Leon Hutchins, Xavie Shorts, Simon Oguinye, Owen Scott and Greg Robinson. Also joining the lineup are blues greats SmokeHouse Porter and Miss Mamie, with a special guest appearance by the legendary Kenny Neal. Touring acts are motivation rapper and Special Olympian David "Price $$ Lion" Steffan from Nebraska, folk blues singer Jonathan Foster from Northern California, Mississippi R&B singer James Jr., Texas based R&B singers Lady Bain and singer/songwriter Melerbee. Gospel acts include Lafayette based Anthony R. Veal, Sr. & The Pew and Konai Adelphe from Knoxville, Tennessee. Hosts are DJ Teddy Lloyd Johnson and television personality Whitney Vann. Co-host for Sunday is Gospel announcer Kerwin Fealing. Stage times and more acts will be announced closer to the date.

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Presenting sponsor is Louisiana Film Channel. Sponsors include Blue Runner, Henry Turner Jr.'s Listening Room Museum Foundation, Piyahhhhh!! Seasonings, Cutting Edge Music Conference and River Parishes Tourist Commission. Community Partners are Visit Baton Rouge, Tactical Impact Security, Off Beat Magazine and Where Y'at Magazine and Pushback LLC.

More info at http://www.brsoulfoodfest.com or call 225-802-9681.