Raven McNulty, who graduated from Apex High School last spring, was named the winner of The Chef’s Academy’s national 2012 Top Teen Talent Scholarship Competition.

To get to the competition, held at The Chef’s Academy’s Indianapolis campus, high school juniors and seniors submitted an essay and a recipe with a photo of their culinary or pastry creations. Submissions were posted on The Chef’s Academy Facebook page, where public voting determined the finalists. In Indianapolis, the top 10 students made dishes from a pre-set menu in front of a judging panel of professional chefs.

Raven, from Raleigh, earned a full scholarship to The Chef’s Academy, where she planned to begin studying pastry making at the school’s campus in Morrisville this fall.

Compiled by staff writer Michelle Ferencak