Eating & Drinking | Big Online Recipe Contest
Make your meal a MENSA STAR!
Submit your recipe and become “MENSA STAR 2026”.
Attention, amateur chefs! In the Studierendenwerk’s big online recipe contest, the dining hall chefs are turning the tables once again: Anyone who enjoys cooking or regularly indulges their passion for creative recipes will soon have the chance to showcase their very own favorite dish in the university dining halls in Aachen and Jülich!
The MENSA STAR is aimed at all cooking enthusiasts among the students who want to enrich everyday university life in the dining halls with an original recipe. The goal is to first convince the expert jury from Studierendenwerk with culinary skill, good taste, and practicality, and then score points in the online voting—because the final decision on which dishes will be crowned MENSA STARS ultimately lies with the dining hall guests. The winners have a lot to look forward to: Not only will their dishes be served in all dining halls, but they’ll also receive cash prizes totaling 900 euros. In addition, all online voters can enter a raffle to win dining hall vouchers.
The MENSA STAR features four recipe categories, each judged separately: dessert, vegetarian/vegan main course, and main course with fish or meat. Of course, you can also enter all three categories.
In the end, the dining hall guests decide which dishes will become Mensa Stars: After the jury makes a preliminary selection, the five best recipes in each category will go to online voting.
The deadline for submitting recipes is 30 April; online voting begins on 8 May.
Good luck!
That’s how it works
You send in your recipe online. In the recipe portal you can choose from the following categories:
- VEGETARIAN MAIN COURSE
- VEGAN MAIN COURSE
- MAIN COURSE WITH FISH OR MEAT
- DESSERT
In the portal you can enter your recipe and send it to the Studierendenwerk jury. Important: The ingredients should be measured for four persons, so the quantity can easily be calculated when the meal is prepared in the dining hall kitchen. Please read our recipe criteria carefully!
Of course you can send in recipes for all four categories, just select the categories you want to take part in and the windows for entering the recipe information will open one after another. The use of the portal can be interrupted any time. The entries in the last window but one will be saved. However, after you have sent it a correction or second sign-up is not possible anymore.
The closing date is 30 April 2026.
After the closing date the jury consisting of eight students and Studierendenwerk cooks will read every recipe and make a preselection. The best five meals from each category will enter an online voting. If you are one of the best amateur chefs, you will be notified by email.
In the online voting everybody gets a chance to vote for their favourite recipes and elect the four Mensa Stars.
The link to the election portal will go live on 8 May and remain active until 22 May 2026.
There will be three prizes for the four categories:
1st Prize: €150
2nd Prize: €50
3rd Prize: €25 dining hall vouchers
On top of that, all online voters can win a €10 dining hall voucher.
If you are going to be one of the three first place winners, you will be invited to a small official award ceremony in Mensa Academica. You will receive an email about the details.
So, off to the kitchen! Good luck!
The organizer of the competition is Studierendenwerk Aachen AöR, Pontwall 3, 52062 Aachen, Germany.
The corresponding data protection regulations can be found in our data protection declaration under point 5.
Participation in the recipe contest is free and voluntary. Only students of the Aachen universities are eligible to participate. Persons entrusted with the implementation of the competition and their respective relatives are not eligible to participate. Participants are allowed to submit one recipe for each category. You will therefore have a maximum of four chances to win.
Studierendenwerk reserves the right to exclude persons from participation who gain an advantage through manipulation. Further reasons for exclusion are submissions with racist, insulting, sexist or any other disrespectful content. In the case of copyright infringement, the participant who submitted the recipe is solely liable.
Recipes can be submitted until 30 April 2026 the online voting will take place a few days later. Studierendenwerk does not assume any liability for technical malfunctions. To meet the deadline, the date of receipt of the entry by Studierendenwerk Aachen is decisive.
If the winner does not respond to the prize notification within 14 days, the prize will be forfeited and a replacement winner will be selected. The amount on the canteen cards will not be paid out. The name and photo of the first place winner of the contest will be published in the Studierendenwerk media.