USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) culinary specialists earned three awards for their talents during the sixth annual "Best of the Mess" competition held at The Founders Inn in Virginia Beach, Jan. 22.

Lincoln was represented by Culinary Specialist 1st Class James Parrott, Culinary Specialist 1st Class Sonia Mance, and Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Ebony Hudson. These three Sailors took home the Best Decorated Station award, the People's Choice award, which was voted on by the guests that attended the event, and placed first place in the overall competition.

Lincoln's Best of the Mess team spent months preparing for the competition in order to perfect their decorations and menu. This year's ingredients for the participating teams included coffee, blood oranges, coyote squash, and pork shoulder.

"We began preparing for Best of the Mess in August of last year," Mance said. "The morning of the event we came in to work at about 0500, went over our checklist to make sure we had everything we needed, and headed over to the event."

Lincoln Sailors competed against six other local Navy teams from the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area including teams from USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77), USS McFaul (DDG 74), USS Bataan (LHD 5), Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, and Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.

"I got to look around and see everyone's food and it all looked very good," Hudson said. "It was really an honor to be able to compete and an indescribable feeling to win every category. I can't wait to see what we come up with next year to defend our title as the Best of the Mess."

In addition to allowing the culinary specialists from each command to demonstrate their talents through the preparation of a three course menu, the Best of the Mess competition is an annual event and silent auction sponsored by the Chief Petty Officer's Fund to provide educational assistance to family members of the chief petty officers.

Lincoln is currently undergoing a refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Lincoln is the fifth ship of the Nimitz class to undergo a RCOH, a major life-cycle milestone. Once RCOH is complete, Lincoln will be one of the most modern and technologically-advanced Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in the fleet and will continue to be a vital part of the nation's defense.

For more news from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), visit www.navy.mil/.