National Brown Bread Baking Competition at the National Ploughing Championships

What to Expect

The National Brown Bread Baking Competition is one of the fixed points of the National Ploughing Championships, and in 2026 it runs across all three days at Screggan, Tullamore, from Tuesday 15 to Thursday 17 September. It is sponsored by Euronics in association with the National Ploughing Association and the Irish Countrywomen’s Association, and for 2026 there is a junior category running alongside the long-standing senior competition for the first time. Baking rounds happen in front of the crowd on the Tuesday and Wednesday, with the finals baked and the winners announced on the closing day.

The rounds keep to a set timetable each day: junior competitors bake at 10am and senior competitors at 1pm. Entry loaves for 2026 were dropped off earlier in the summer, on 17 July, 24 July and 7 August, so for anyone arriving at the championships this is now something to watch rather than enter. The prize fund is unusually large for a baking competition. The senior winner takes €5,000 in cash along with a NEFF Slide and Hide oven valued at €2,019, while the junior winner receives a €1,500 Euronics voucher plus a further €1,500 for their school. The competition sits inside the wider championships, which is the 95th running of the event and the second consecutive year at the Screggan site.

Good to Know

• Dates: Tuesday 15 to Thursday 17 September 2026, inside the National Ploughing Championships
• Venue: the championships site at Screggan, Tullamore, Co. Offaly
• Times: junior rounds at 10am daily, senior rounds at 1pm daily
• Finals baked and winners announced on Thursday 17 September
• Entry closed for 2026, with drop-off dates of 17 July, 24 July and 7 August
• Prizes: €5,000 and a NEFF oven for the senior winner; a €1,500 voucher plus €1,500 for the school of the junior winner
• Viewing is included with admission to the championships, ticketed separately by the NPA

Getting There

Screggan lies a short drive south west of Tullamore, which is the nearest town for food, fuel and accommodation and which fills up early during Ploughing week. The site is signposted from the main approach roads for the run of the event. Tullamore railway station is on the Dublin Heuston to Galway line. Car parking and shuttle arrangements are set out fresh each year, so check npa.ie for the official travel details published in the weeks before the championships open.