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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FIFA World Cup preview

France and Spain set for epic semifinal in last Dallas World Cup match

Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Kylian Mbappe #10 of France celebrates scoring a penalty for the team's first goal during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 match between Paraguay and France at Philadelphia Stadium.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé and France haven’t trailed at all at this year's World Cup. Neither has Spain with teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and clutch goal-scoring substitute Mikel Merino.

Only one of those teams can make it to the final.

France and Spain are both playing at their 17th World Cup, but have met only once previously on soccer’s biggest stage. They play Tuesday, July 14 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in the first of two powerhouse semifinal matches.

After entering this tournament as FIFA’s top-ranked team, France has outscored its opponents 14-2. Mbappé, the 2022 Golden Boot winner, has eight goals to match Lionel Messi for the scoring lead this time, and is one behind the Argentina captain’s career record of 21 at the World Cup.

“We are focused,” France midfielder Adrien Rabiot said. “We are confident, of course, with the course we have done so far, and we have to be, but always with this humility that has characterized us since the beginning of the competition.”

The 27-year-old Mbappé has 20 goals in his 20 World Cup matches, including one in the 2018 win over Croatia when he joined Pele as the only teenagers to score in a World Cup final. And the star striker for Les Bleus had said he is fine despite exiting in the 77th minute of their 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco after scoring a goal.

Lamine Yamal, Spain, World Cup Lamine Yamal #19 of Spain controls the ball during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter Final match between Spain and Belgium at Los Angeles Stadium.Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Yamal, who turned 19 on Monday, has already been part of two semifinal wins with Spain over France. He was just days shy of his 17th birthday when he scored in a 2-1 win during the 2024 European Championship semifinals, and Spain then won 5-4 in Nations League play last year.

“I believe if France has to fear anyone, it should be us, in my opinion,” Yamal said after Spain's quarterfinal victory over Belgium. “We were the ones that knocked them out before.”

The teen has only one goal while putting 10 shots on target after coming into this World Cup still nursing a left hamstring issue that forced him to miss the final weeks of the season for Spanish club Barcelona.

France defender Jules Koundé also plays for Barcelona, so he knows Yamal well and didn't feel disrespected by those comments.

“For me he is a sign of confidence. He always does it with (Barcelona). He trusts a lot in his virtues, in the virtues of the team where he plays,” Koundé said in translated remarks. “So I see nothing as an extra motivation for him and that’s it, that’s all.”

Spain has outscored opponents 10-1 since a stunning scoreless draw against surprising Cape Verde to open group play, but La Roja needed late decisive goals from Merino after he entered the last two games as a second-half substitute. All while goaltender Unai Simón set a World Cup record of 650 minutes without allowing a goal until Belgium found the net in the 41st minute of their quarterfinal game.

“I think that from the first game until today, the team needed to catch the rhythm, we had been without seeing each other for a long time,” Spain midfielder Alex Baena said, adding that with more games and practices “the better the team has been.”

Merino scored in the 88th minute for that 2-1 win over Belgium on Friday. That came after the Arsenal forward’s goal in the first minute of second-half stoppage time for the 1-0 win over Portugal in the round of 16 at the same stadium where Spain's semifinal match will be played.

Quartet of past champions
This is the first World Cup since 1990 that each of the final four teams are former champions.

Messi and defending champion Argentina, which beat France for the title in 2022, play England in the other semifinal match Wednesday in Atlanta.

The championship match is Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, across the river from New York City. A third-place game will be played Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Both have raised World Cup trophy since they last met in the tourney
In their only previous World Cup meeting, France beat Spain 3-1 in a round of 16 game at the 2006 tournament in Germany.

Both teams have won the World Cup since then. Spain claimed its only title in 2010, and France won its second World Cup in 2018.

France, which will be playing on its country's Bastille Day national holiday, is trying to join five-time champion Brazil and four-time winner Germany as the only teams to make three consecutive World Cup finals. Brazil did it in 1994, 1998 and 2002 — winning two titles and losing to host France in the middle of that run. Germany’s championship in 1990 came after being runner-up in the previous two World Cups — all playing as West Germany at the time.

Argentina beat France in a penalty shootout in 2022 after playing to a 3-3 draw.

This is France's seventh semifinal appearance, its fifth in the last eight World Cups. Spain's only other semifinals were in 1950 and then 2010 on the way to the title.

Wrapping up in Dallas
AT&T Stadium in North Texas - called "Dallas Stadium" for the tournament - will be hosting its tournament-high ninth game, and in that one-month run there have been some soccer superstar moments in the building that has hosted a Super Bowl and NCAA championship games for football and men's basketball.

Messi scored three goals in Argentina's two group games, the first on June 22 when after missing a penalty kick he broke the World Cup career scoring mark with the first of his two goals in a 2-0 win over Austria. He added another goal as a late substitute in the group finale June 27 against Jordan.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old superstar from Portugal, finished his sixth and final World Cup in the 1-0 round of 16 loss to Spain on July 6.

semifinal dallas stadium fifa world cup