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Illinois pork lovers have a new chance to champion their favorite breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, as the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) officially opens its 2026 Pork Tenderloin Draft.
The annual competition invites Illinoisans to nominate their top breaded pork tenderloin restaurants across the state, with the goal of crowning the best in Illinois. To qualify, nominated restaurants must maintain year-round, regular hours and feature a hand-breaded pork tenderloin sandwich on their daily menu. Tenderloins can be prepared bread-crumb style or battered and fried, but breaded pork fritters do not qualify for the competition.
How to Nominate
Fans can submit their top five Illinois restaurants by filling out a nomination form at ilpork.com/pork-tenderloin-draft. That website is the only official channel accepting nominations — entries submitted via email or social media will not be counted. The draft runs September 1-30, 2026, and each person may submit only one form; duplicate entries will be deleted.
From Nominations to a Winner
Once nominations close, the process moves through several rounds of review. The 20 restaurants with the most nominations advance to a judging round, with IPPA reserving the right to add or remove restaurants from that list as needed. Members and affiliates from around the state judge the Top 20, and results are then reviewed by IPPA’s Marketing Committee, which narrows the field to a Top 5. An appointed panel then judges those five finalists to select first- and second-place winners.
The Top 5 finalists, along with the first- and second-place winners, will be announced in November 2026.
What’s at Stake
The first-place restaurant will receive a plaque, an outdoor banner, and $500 from the Illinois Pork Producers Association. The second-place restaurant earns a plaque and $250, while the remaining three restaurants in the Top 5 each receive a small plaque. Once a restaurant claims first place, it becomes ineligible to compete again for five years; the second-place finisher and other Top 5 restaurants remain eligible in future years.
There’s also an incentive for participants: everyone who nominates the eventual winning restaurant will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win $100 from IPPA, with the winner notified in November.
Illinois pork tenderloin enthusiasts have until September 30 to make their picks count. All rights to the program are reserved by the Illinois Pork Producers Association.
