By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After winning top marks in the state 4-H barbecue contest in June, two Arkansas 4-H members have brought home third and fifth place awards in the chicken and turkey barbecue competitions at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference, held Nov. 19-22.
The conference was held in conjunction with the North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Kentucky. Arkansas 4-H members from Columbia, Conway, Howard, Pope and Sebastian counties competed in the barbecue contest, the Avian Bowl and Poultry Judging.
ALL ABOUT POULTRY — Arkansas 4-H members, 4-H agents and extension staff traveled to the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky, where the members competed in chicken and turkey barbecue contests, Poultry Judging and the Avian Bowl. (Division of Agriculture photo.)
Andrew Bolton, extension poultry science instructor for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said the experience of competing at the national level has a significant impact on participants.
“It is a great honor for these youth,” Bolton said. “Competing at this level is a step up in competition, as they’re up against the best of the best from each state, and that is exciting. I think our youth thrive on competition and the drive to say they went up against the best in the nation.”
Sarah Lamb, 18, won third place in the chicken barbecue competition with her dish of four chicken thighs coated in the “Redneck Lipstick” seasoning blend, which includes paprika, light brown sugar and onion and garlic powder. Laney Slate, 18, took home fifth place in the turkey barbecue competition, where she prepared her ground turkey patties with Blues Hog Raspberry Chipotle Barbecue Sauce and a Morton Salt Nature’s Seasons blend.
Barbecue competitors had two hours to prepare and cook their dishes, starting the moment they lit the grill. In addition to their dishes, Lamb and Slate were also scored on their presentations about chicken and turkey production in the United States, the birds’ nutritional value, safe food handling and grilling procedures.
Slate, a member of the Dayton 4-H Club in Sebastian County, first competed at the National 4-H Poultry and Egg Conference in 2021, where she took home fourth place in chicken barbecue. Slate then switched to turkey barbecue for the 2024 competition, and she said she is proud to close out her Arkansas 4-H career with this fifth-place win.
“I feel extremely blessed, and I’m very grateful to have gone to both competitions,” Slate said. “When I went back in 2021, I thought there was no way it would happen again, so it was nice to finish out my 4-H career on a high note.”
Slate is a freshman at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, where she is studying elementary education and plans to pursue a career as a special education teacher. Though the barbecue competition will likely be her last 4-H event — members can compete until age 19 — she said she is already helping younger 4-H members pursue their grilling passions.
“Another girl from Arkansas 4-H reached out to me at the national competition and said, ‘Hey, do you have any pointers?’” Slate said. “So, we’ve been emailing back and forth, and I’ve sent her a step-by-step list of the process, from setting up the grill to turning in the product. She thinks she’s going to start competing in the next 4-H year.”
Lamb, a member of the Howard County 4-H Club, said she was surprised by her third-place win.
“It was kind of shocking because I thought I wouldn’t get that far,” she said. “But it was pretty cool to learn that I had won.”
Lamb has been a 4-H member since she was five years old, and her 4-H record book — where 4-H members log all projects, contests, activities, events and skill development — has focused on food and nutrition. In the summer of 2025, Lamb will begin her coursework at Brightwater: A Century for the Study of Food, part of Northwest Arkansas Community College. She hopes to open her own bakery eventually.
“4-H has impacted me in a huge way, because I’ve been in so many Food Challenges and food competitions and it made me realize that cooking was more than just my fun hobby,” Lamb said.
Bolton said the Arkansas 4-H barbecue contests, Avian Bowl and Poultry Judging competitions “help build out our youth.”
“They are learning about the poultry industry, which is a major sector of business in our state,” Bolton said. “They are also learning public speaking skills because every contest has some type of speaking component. Also, through this conference, our youth are getting to meet their peers from around the nation and foster those relationships.”
The Arkansas 4-H youth development program is operated by the Cooperative Extension Service, the outreach arm of the Division of Agriculture. For more information about Arkansas 4-H, visit 4h.uada.edu.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.