State Fair News

State Fair of Texas leaks semifinalists for '25 Big Tex Choice awards

State Fair of Texas Big Tex Choice Awards trophies

State Fair of Texas

The Big Tex Choice Awards — the annual culinary competition among concessionaires at the State Fair of Texas — have arrived for 2025. According to a release, 30 semifinalists have made the grade for the 21st Annual Big Tex® Choice Awards, presented by Karbach Brewing Company, with entries both savory and sweet.

The Big Tex Choice Awards kicked off in 2005 and has now become a staple of the annual fair.

The contest kicked off in June with 76 entries represented by 50 concessionaires, marking the highest number of submissions in Big Tex Choice Awards history.

All competitors are required to have at least one year of experience as concessionaires before they can enter the competition.

The selection process is headed up by a panel of internal judges and requires “blind judging” from start to finish, meaning the panel does not know which concessionaire is behind each recipe.

To vie for a spot in this semi-final round, contestants put their creativity to the test by coming up with an enticing name and description for their original concoctions. Then, the judges taste and score each dish to see if they are as delicious as they sound and look.

In mid-August, the semi-finalists will be further narrowed down to 10 finalists.

Bacon Jam Cannoli
Bacon jam is cooked with brown sugar, maple syrup, and spices, mixed into ricotta with milk chocolate bits, then piped into cannoli shells. Each end is topped with bacon jam, and the whole thing is drizzled in chocolate.

Brisket and Brew Stuffed Pretzels
Brisket is blended with beer cheese made from cheddar, wrapped in pretzel dough, sprinkled with salt, and baked.

Candy Lemon Sour Face
Sweet-and-sour candy-coated lemon.

Chill & Thrill Delight
A twist on Colombia’s famous Salpicon de Frutas featuring a cup of diced mango, pineapple, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe, and strawberries, soaked in watermelon juice with a splash of lime, topped with shaved mango sorbet.

Churro Cheesecake Jalapeño Popper
Jalapeño poppers with a cheesecake filling, covered in churro batter and fried, with a side of dulce de leche sauce.

Coconut Quadruple
Fresh young coconut served with a coconut slushy topped with soft-serve coconut ice cream and coconut flakes.

Colada Limonada
Frozen twist on piña colada and tangy lemonade blended with coconut, pineapple juice, and lemonade, topped with cherry syrup, a cherry, and a mini umbrella.

Cookie Chaos Milkshake
Over-the-top cookie butter milkshake with snickerdoodle chunks, Golden Oreo Cookies, classic Oreo Cookies, whipped cream, edible cookie butter cookie dough, Biscoff cookie, cookie butter drizzle, and a rim of crushed Biscoff cookie pieces.

Crab & Mozzarella Arancini
Rice ball made of crab, rice, mozzarella cheese, onion, red bell pepper, lemon, black pepper, garlic, coriander, and basil, served with marinara.

Decadent Dubai Chocolate Dream
16-oz cup drizzled with strawberries, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, freeze-dried strawberries, pistachio floss, and a gold-dusted Dubai chocolate chip cookie stuffed with pistachio kataifi, marshmallow, and chocolate.

Deep Fried Deli Tacos
New York deli meets Dallas taqueria: Pastrami, mashed potatoes, cheese in a corn tortilla, fried and served with a spicy green sauce.

Dirty Red Bull Tex-arita
Cocktail contains sweet cream liquor, Blue Razz Pop Rocks, Watermelon Red Bull margarita, and Blueberry Red Bull margarita, topped with' Pop Rocks, blueberries, and watermelon.

Dubai Chocolate Cheesecake
Served in a cup, featuring Belgian chocolate, pistachio spread, kataifi, tahini, chunks of New York-style cheesecake, drizzled with chocolate, pistachio cream, and crushed pistachios.

Dubai Chocolate Funnel Cake Fries
Funnel cake strips drizzled with chocolate, topped with pistachio cream and knafeh pastry.

El Cono Loco
Tex-Mex chicken spaghetti with Hatch green chiles, queso, Monterey Jack, inside a garlic parmesan bread cone, topped with pico, sour cream, and slice of avocado.

Hot Honeycomb Lemonade Shake Up
Lemonade Shake Up, a Fair favorite with lemons, sugar, and water, enhanced with honey, fresh jalapeño, chamoy and Tajin, and skewer of honeycomb.

Meat Lovers Crunchy Calzone
Flour tortilla filled with shredded mozzarella, diced pepperoni & salami, and seasoned ground beef, topped with red sauce, served with fried mozzarella bites and a side of ranch and marinara.

Pop-Elotes
A popcorn version of elotes with popcorn, spicy mayo, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, and cotija cheese.

Poppin' Boba Rita
Frozen margarita with wine-infused poppin’ boba pearls in mango or strawberry flavor. Make it "dirty" with cold foam, coconut syrup, and a Tajin rim.

Pop Rocks Margarita
Frozen margarita with fizzy Pop Rocks and a firework-style garnish.

Russell’s Key Lime Pie Bombs
Key lime pie mixed with extra graham cracker crust and crushed Nilla Wafers, rolled into bite-sized pieces, dipped in pancake batter, fried, then topped with Chantilly cream, powdered sugar, and a sugar-coated lime jelly candy.

Texa-misu
Layers of Quadratini wafer cookies topped with frozen “cremespresso,” whipped cream and more Quadratini wafer cookies.

Texas Smoked Brisket Crepe
Brisket, onions, tomatoes, arugula, and melted cheese in a cone shaped crepe, with smoky sriracha mayo and chimichurri sauce.

Texas Water
Natural flavors transform any spring water, sparkling water, or pale ale into a pineapple or lime refresher.

Tex’s Toast á la Mode
French toast topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel, real maple syrup, and cinnamon cereal crunch for that extra pop.

Ube Rice-Cream Crunch
Tribute to Filipino flavor starts with ube (purple yam) and gets a crispy topping of puffed rice made using the traditional South Asian muri method, where dry salt is heated to a high temperature, then special rice is added to puff and pop, plus Cool Whip and a cherry.

Vietnamese Crunch Dog
Asian twist on corn dog, coated in a crispy mix of panko and bánh mì crumbs, with sriracha mayo and pickled veggies.

Wagyu Bacon Cheeseburger Deviled Egg Sliders
Cajun-seasoned Wagyu patty with cheddar and bacon sandwiched between two fried, panko-crusted deviled egg halves, with ketchup-inspired sauce.

What on Earth is This?
UFO-shaped smash burger features a smashed beef patty, chicken, steak, and vegetables in a bun, topped with mustard, provolone, chipotle mayo, fiery green chile, and "mysterious" sauce.

Yabba Dabba Doo
Dirty Sprite with crunchy ice pebbles, strawberry and green apple syrups, fresh mango and strawberries, coconut crème, Skittles, Lemonheads, pineapple slice, whipped cream, chewy ropes, and a sprinkle of Fruity Pebbles.

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Movie Review

Lust eclipses romance in new adaptation of 'Wuthering Heights'

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s 1847 novel Wuthering Heights is one of those classic books assigned in high school English classes, and it has received a number of film adaptations over the years, each of which differ in numerous ways from the source material. Purists won’t receive any reprieve from Emerald Fennell’s 2026 adaptation, with a title that is stylized as "Wuthering Heights” for good reason.

Cathy (played as an adult by Margot Robbie) and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi) have known each other their entire lives, with Cathy’s alcoholic and inveterate gambler father (Martin Clunes) taking in Heathcliff on a whim when he was a boy. The two bond as they grow up together, although Cathy always seems to have an eye on moving up in society from their relatively impoverished lifestyle.

Cathy finally gets her wish when the rich Linton familyled by Edgar (Shazad Latif), moves in down the road, Despite discovering she has feelings for the now grown-up Heathcliff, Cathy sees Edgar as her way out and agrees to marry him. A scorned Heathcliff flees, returning years later as mysteriously wealthy. His reappearance ignites something in Cathy’s soul, and the two engage in a perhaps unwise affair.

Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) infuses the dusty material with an energy that’s not typically present in stories set in this particular time and place. Aside from the occasional Charli XCX song (the singer created a whole concept album for the film), the film looks and feels like a period piece, albeit one that doesn’t get bogged down in the drudgery that can sometimes come from films set in the distant past.

Much of that has to do with the lust the filmmaker puts into the story. Even if you’re not familiar with Brontë’s book, you can rest assured that Fennell has strayed far from the text, giving Cathy and Heathcliff thoughts and actions unthinkable in the 19th century. Fennell plays with expectations by opening the film with audio featuring creaking noises and a man grunting, conjuring up a situation far different than what is actually happening, and she also makes liberal use of rain, sweat, and tears to make the actors enticing.

What she can’t do, however, is make the two lead characters compelling. Cathy is a striver who never seems to know what she wants out of life, and Heathcliff goes from a bore to a brute over the course of the film, with no clear indication that he likes anybody, much less Cathy. Anyone expecting some kind of grand romance will be disappointed as Fennell is much more interested in making the film weird, like having the walls of Cathy’s room look like her skin, complete with freckles.

Robbie and Elordi do well enough with the material, and it’s clear that both of them are committed to bringing Fennell’s vision to life. Their styles tend to balance each other out, and if the story had been committed to their characters’ relationship, they might be lauded for their chemistry. In the end, though, the supporting actors feel more interesting, including ones played by Hong Chau, Alison Miller, and Clunes.

This version of Wuthering Heights should never be construed as an alternative to reading the book for any high schoolers out there. While Fennell makes the film interesting with her technical filmmaking choices, the story never finds its footing as it fails to sell the one thing that it seems to promise.

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Wuthering Heights opens in theaters on February 13.

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