Burger chefs from eastern Iowa and northern Illinois convened in Dubuque Wednesday morning for Red Robin's annual Smiling Burger Regional Championship.

Amid fanfare befitting a sporting event, competing chefs in Red Robin's kitchen were given six minutes to perform their task:

"We have to make a burger and we have to make it picture perfect," said Chris Whitt, Dubuque's entry in the competition.

The chefs actually made a pair of burgers -- a barbecue burger and a bacon cheeseburger -- and were judged in seven categories, including neatness. In Red Robin parlance, a "smiling burger" is one showing all of its ingredients, so presentation was an important consideration in the competition.

Contestants were judged on their fries, too.

Loras College cheerleaders helped set the competitive stage. Family members and friends of the competitors cheered, and a timekeeper kept an eagle eye on a stopwatch -- shouting "four-minute mark" when the contestants inched closer to the time limit. The announcement of the winner elicited

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tears, hugs and cheers.

The winner advances to a competition in Colorado. The winner of the Colorado competition advances to Orlando, Fla., and the right to compete for $4,000.

Here's a look at the competition:

The contestants

Angel Coronel, Bolingbrook, Ill.

Manuel Enriquez, Orland Park, Ill.

Luisa Garcia, Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Jon Miehest, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Jose Raygoza, Davenport, Iowa.

Chris Whitt, Dubuque.

The skills

Striving for burger perfection means more than piling lettuce, onion straws and bacon on a bun.

"I have my own techniques," Whitt said. "I take the lettuce, and I ball it up in my hand. You don't want to smash the burger. I push everything to the front, but not so it's hanging out."

The judges

Doris Gorius, owner of Cooking Something Up in Dubuque.

Vince Izzi, Red Robin's regional director, based in Chicago.

Melanie Thomsen, Dubuque recruiter for the National Guard.

"We're looking at the cheese, the steak fries, the hamburger patty," Izzi said. "We're looking for buns not to be crushed."

The scoring system

Buns -- 5 points.

Ingredients -- 10 points.

Cheese -- 5 points.

Neatness -- 5 points.

Wrap (the presentation of the completed burger in its paper "diaper") -- 10 points.

Patty -- 5 points.

Fries -- 10 points.

The intensity

"I don't shake like this at home -- I don't shake at all at home," Garcia said after her six minutes in the kitchen.

Garcia held up a still-shaking hand.

"All the eyes were on me," she said.

The judging standards

Izzi took one look at the burger and knew something was wrong.

"The cheese is just not melted at all," he said.

Izzi began a top-to-bottom review of another burger, beginning with the top bun.

"See that thumb print? And there's not enough lettuce visible," he said. "You want your fries to look pretty, and he didn't accomplish that. This just isn't working."

And the winner is ...

Orland Park's Enriquez.

"It's in my blood, I think," he said. "I love working in the kitchen."