Contests
Festival Weekend
Sign up in the contest area at least 30 minutes in advance of each event. Entry fee is $1. Prizes awarded.
Strawberry Tart Toss
11:00AM and 2:00 PM Daily
Your chance to be on target with a gooey strawberry tart. Participants peer through a berry cutout while contestants take aim. Whether you’re the giver or the receiver, it’s sweet revenge!
Strawberry Pie Eating Contest
1:00PM and 4:00PM Daily
In your face fun with a timed challenge you can really sink your teeth into, devouring strawberry pies for the ultimate mouthful without the use of a fork.
The Star Berry Hunt
Presented by: 
A true berry quest... Navigate through the Festival grounds and find clues for all things berry. Any age can play. Pick up your map and color key at the Strawberry Promenade and embark on your path to discovery. When you find all the clues to solve the riddle, turn in the completed info at the Ventura County Star booth and receive a complimentary gift (while supplies last). All participants are in the running for the grand prize drawing of a two nights of Five Star luxury in Napa Valley, at the Meritage Resort and Spa, courtesy of Shell Vacations Club. **CONGRATULATIONS to Mike Villalobos of Azusa who won the 2010 Star Berry Hunt.
Before the Festival
Official Berry Blast Off Recipe Contest 
Think strawberry bliss in a strawberry dish. Festival organizers went searching for the tastiest non-baking strawberry dish for the coveted “Berry Blast Off” Recipe contest, featuring a grand prize vacation four-night Carnival Cruise Getaway Vacation, compliments of Shell Vacations Club. From 82 entries, five finalists were selected to compete in a timed challenge to prepare their dishes and two were then selected to compete Festival weekend for the Grand Prize. Each participant who submitted an entry received a free ticket to the Festival (limit one per person).
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2011 Finalists who will compete in the ultimate Berry Blast Off Saturday at 12:00pm Festival Weekend in the Strawberry Promenade with a crowd of patrons cheering them on.
Yoshiharu Sogi: Strawberry, Tuna, Scallop and Ridgeback Shrimp Tartar
Accolades to our other finalists whose recipes were standouts:
Celia Robles: Strawberry Shrimp Cocktail
Elizabeth Koseyan: Vanilla Pudding Clouds with Heavenly Strawberry, Banana, and Orange sauce
Larissa Nelson: Strawberry Avocado and Toasted Almond Couscous Salad
View Rules >>
Check out the Award-Winning Recipes of Past Years! >>
Annual Poster Contest
Congratulations to our 2011 Contest winner Aaron Friedland of Los Angeles!
This year’s poster turned ordinary upside down to offer an extraordinary view of the 28th Annual California Strawberry Festival as a favorite destination for delicious fun. Selected from a field of 65 submissions, artist and creator Aaron Friedland of Los Angeles was awarded the $2,000 prize purse for his whimsical design featuring a strawberry-shaped Highway 1 sign topped with a green stem taking root along the Pacific Coast where the waves meet the shore. The design is a clever departure from former Festival winners and its originality was what caught the eye of the California Strawberry Festival judging committee.
“I was trying to come up with a design idea for the Festival, so I must have had strawberries on my mind when I happened to see a road sign for Route 1,” says Friedland, a self taught artist. “It struck me that it had a similar shape to an upside down strawberry, so I took artistic license and expanded on the idea to make it the central theme of my work. Friedland will be signing posters Festival weekend at the souvenir stand. "I'm excited to see my art out there and hope people will react with a smile at this unusual combination of two Golden State icons -- strawberries and Route 1."A fruitful enterprise for artists and designers, each year the Festival seeks submissions for the annual Official Poster Contest in what has become a visually stunning Festival tradition of showcasing each season since the event began in 1984.
Printed on collectible T-shirts and promotional items available for purchase on site Festival weekend, the poster is also utilized in marketing and advertising. The winning artist is awarded $2,000 and is guest of honor at a poster unveiling luncheon.Youth Art Design Contest - Presented by 
Six-year-old 
Oxnard resident and first grade student at Julien Hathaway Elementary School, Athena Cimafranca, has been declared the winner of the 2011 California Strawberry Festival Youth Art Design Contest, sponsored by Valu Plus Food Warehouse.
Across school districts in Oxnard, Hueneme, and Ocean View, 734 students in grades K-6 submitted entries in what has become a much-anticipated annual tradition among local schools. Cimafranca’s winning design boasts a “happy strawberry,” complete with eyelashes, a brimming smile, and high top sneakers. During a special surprise pizza party presentation at her classroom courtesy of the California Strawberry Festival, Cimafranca was honored with a gift certificate of $100 while a $50 gift certificate was awarded to her teacher. She and her entire family will also be esteemed guests of the Festival getting underway May 21 & 22 in Oxnard where her eye-catching design will adorn Youth T-shirt merchandise available at the souvenir tent.
To create the winning masterpiece, Cimafranca used a combination of bright crayons and markers. According to her teacher Sarah Puglisi, “I remember that Athena was especially gloomy on the day of this assignment because her dad who serves in the U.S. Navy, just left for eight weeks of training. She was missing him already, so I suggested that she draw something cheerful to help lift her spirits.” A terrific student who tries hard and takes pride in her work, young Cimafranca now has lots to smile about. Recognition also goes to standouts in respective grade levels: Ivan Xicohtencati
of Sierra Linda School (Kindergarten); Anahi Vasquez of Fred L. Williams Elementary (2nd grade); Jorge Granados of Sunkist Elementary (3rd grade); Brenda Meto of Fred L. Williams (4th grade); Ashley Limon of Sunkist Elementary (5th grade); and Jullianna De La Cruz of Lemonwood Elementary (6th grade).
Any student who participated in the contest received a free ticket to the Festival. As an outreach program, the California Strawberry Festival Youth Art Contest encourages art activities and study plans that salute the celebration and the industry so vital to the area. For the students of Sarah Puglisi’s first grade class, she garnered inspiration from the Festival’s website where she downloaded images of strawberry poster art from the last three decades. Parents brought in strawberries and classroom discussion focused on how the region’s prolific fruit benefits so many in the community.
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