08/06/2026
🇺🇸 SCCA State of the Union Address 🇺🇸
An Address to the SCCA Family
Heading Into the 2026-2027 Season
To every cook team that's ever stood behind a pot before sunrise, hoping the wind didn't ruin your roux...
To every event promoter who believed in us before we'd earned it...
To every judge, ambassador, sponsor, volunteer, and fan who's ever stood in line waiting on a bowl of gumbo that actually mattered...
This message is for you.
Today I want to talk about where we've been, where we are, and where we're headed.
- WHERE WE STAND -
Just a few years ago, winning a cookoff meant taking home a trophy and a handshake.
That was it.
There was no season.
There were no standings.
There was no unified league connecting cook teams across multiple events.
So we built one.
Today, the SCCA sanctions events across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and continues expanding into new markets.
This year, an SCCA sanctioned event became the largest crawfish cookoff in recorded history.
That didn't happen because we got lucky.
It happened because this community proved that when you create real structure, meaningful competition, and something bigger than a single Saturday, people rally behind it.
We're proud of what we've built.
But we're nowhere close to finished.
- BIG CHANGES FOR THIS SEASON -
As we've grown, we've learned.
One thing became obvious.
Our naming structure had become confusing.
We originally had three competition categories and called our season race the SCCA King Kooker Triple Crown Points Race.
Then we added Etouffee.
Now we had four categories...and "Triple Crown" no longer made sense.
So today we're making it official.
The King Kooker Season Points Race
This is our season long championship.
Every sanctioned event.
Every point.
Every category.
One overall champion.
The team that finishes with the highest combined points across Crawfish, Gumbo, Jambalaya, and Etouffee will earn the title:
🏆 SCCA King Kooker Grand Champion
One season.
One crown.
One champion.
The Triple Crown Cajun Cookoff
The Triple Crown isn't going away.
It simply has a new purpose.
A Triple Crown Cajun Cookoff is now an event format featuring all three Black Pot categories:
• Gumbo
• Jambalaya
• Etouffee
Three Champions.
One Crown.
It's a format event promoters can build an entire weekend around.
$10,000 KING KOOKER SEASON BOUNTY
Competition should reward the teams that put in the work.
That's why this season we're introducing a $10,000 Season Bounty.
💰 $4,000 to the King Kooker Grand Champion
💰 $1,500 to each Category Champion:
• Crawfish
• Gumbo
• Jambalaya
• Etouffee
That money comes directly from league memberships and goes right back to the competitors.
CIRCUIT CHAMPIONS
Not every team is chasing a national championship.
Some are chasing bragging rights in their hometown.
Starting this season...
Every Crawfish Circuit Champion will receive:
🏆 Circuit Champion Title
💰 $500 Cash Prize
As our Black Pot circuits continue growing, those championships will eventually carry prize money as well.
This is only the beginning.
HOW THE SEASON WORKS
We now operate two competitive seasons.
🔥 Black Pot Season
September through February
(Gumbo, Jambalaya & Etouffee)
🦞 Crawfish Season
Mid-March through May
Events can feature categories outside of their "season" such as a crawfish event having a jambalaya category.
Only your best five finishes in each category count toward your championship.
Championship events also carry bonus multipliers.
• Regular Event = 1x
• Area Championship = 1.25x
• State Championship = 1.5x
• World Championship = 2x
That means no lead is ever safe.
Championships will be earned.
WHERE WE'RE HEADED
To every cook team...
This is your season.
Join the league.
Earn your points.
Represent your hometown.
Chase your circuit.
Chase your category.
Chase the King Kooker Championship.
To every event promoter...
Our sanctioning program is stronger than ever.
Our software continues improving.
Our league is growing.
And we're just getting started.
To every judge...
Every ambassador...
Every sponsor...
Every volunteer...
Every fan...
Thank you.
None of this exists without you.
We are no longer building cookoffs that last one Saturday.
We're building a league.
We're building a season.
We're building a legacy.
One that Cajun cooking has deserved for decades.
The foundation has been poured.
Now it's time to build something that lasts.
Let's make the 2026-2027 season the biggest one yet.
See y'all at the next cookoff.
Christian Waldo
President | SCCA Cookoffs
