In partnership with Chef Art Smith, the makers of Hidden Valley® Salad Dressings want to identify, help and reward moms who are true vegetable advocates through the Love Your Veggies™ “Search for Veggie Champions Contest.” For 10 lucky moms, Chef Smith and other experts will lead a two-day retreat aimed at learning and sharing tips and tools on planting, harvesting, cooking and eating vegetables with children. These moms will also receive $5,000 to start or maintain a community vegetable garden in their hometown.

To enter, visit www.loveyourveggies.com. You’ll need to complete an entry form, answer essay questions, and upload an original, non-professional photo of a garden that inspires you. These are the essay questions:

1) Tell us a bit about how the non-profit you choose would use the $5,000 grant? Would they plant a new garden? Maintain or revive an existing garden? Any initial ideas on where the garden is or will be located? What does/will it look like? How do you hope it will help your community? and 2) What do you hope to learn by attending the Love Your Veggies™ mom retreat, and why should you be chosen? How will you use the information you learn to help your family, your friends and/or the community at large? How will you spread the word about what you have learned? Each essay must be in English and must be 500 words or less.

The Grand Prize in this contest is A four (4) day/three (3) night trip for the winner to Chicago, IL to attend the Love Your Veggies™ mom retreat. Trip includes round-trip coach air transportation from the major airport nearest to the winner’s home to Chicago, IL, round-trip transfers from the airport to the hotel and return, hotel accommodations, based on single occupancy, an American Express $50 gift card for the winner’s meals on the first day of the trip, and a $5,000 check awarded to a recognized local non-profit organization! The non-profit has to agree to use the $5,000 to start a community vegetable garden.

So there you go! If you know a non-profit organization that could really use money to start a vegetable garden and get the kids of that community eating more veggies, enter the “Search for Veggie Champions” Contest! This post is part of a blog tour for Mom Central.