South Carolina Festival of Discovery
2025-07-10 – 2025-07-12 · Greenwood, SC · 📍 120 Main Street · State championship
Reps: ALAN ROTHROCK, CAROLYN WELLS, DOUG REID, MIKE GARRETSON, NOEL KAY · Prize money: $20,210.00
Grand Champion: Smokin' Sweetmeats (708.0000) · 66 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 ELITE BBQ SMOKERS
Entries
Top score
Winning margin
Field average
Perfect 180s
Tightest race
Top-10 cutoff
Field spread
Prize money
Double threats
How hot was the win?
Traveled in
Came back for more
Form held
Field strength
Storylines
👑 A dynasty in the making
SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS has won this contest 2 times across its 5 tracked editions.
🧳 Out-of-towners took the title
SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS took the Grand Championship home to GA.
🔥 A day of perfect scores
6 perfect 180s were scored at this contest.
📸 Photo finishes
Chicken places 1–2: SWEET SMOKE Q FLORIDA and MUTTLEY CREW BBQ tied on 180.0000 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 6–7: SMOKE SHOW MAFIA and Kings BBQ Team tied on 177.7144 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 9–10: ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN and Mad Dog BBQ tied on 175.4056 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
🛡️ Back to defend
Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS (won 2022), Hot Cole's BBQ (won 2024).
🃏 An upset on the books
SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS came in rated below the field's top team, ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 18-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
Where the field came from (home regions on file)
This contest over the years full contest page →
| Date | Where | Venue | Teams | High score | Grand Champion | Reserve Champion |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-07-07 | Greenwood, SC | 120 Main Street | 92 | 708.0000 | SMOKIN' SWEETMEATS | ROOTERS-N-TOOTERS TN |
| 2023-07-06 | Greenwood, SC | 120 Main Street | 76 | 706.2516 | CHUNKY BBQ | QMEISTERS |
| 2024-07-11 | Greenwood, SC | 120 Main Street | 76 | 703.9888 | Hot Cole's BBQ | STEWBABYS BBQ |
| 2025-07-10 ← this one | Greenwood, SC | 120 Main Street | 66 | 708.0000 | Smokin' Sweetmeats | ELITE BBQ SMOKERS |
| 2026-07-09 | Greenwood, SC | 120 Main Street | 75 | 707.3828 | Cocamoke Smoke BBQ | Maya Jane BBQ Co. |
| 2027-07-08 | Greenwood, SC | — | — | — | — | — |
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 180.0000 | 178.2972 | 175.4056 |
| Pork Ribs | 180.0000 | 177.7144 | 176.5600 |
| Pork | 178.8572 | 177.1428 | 174.8572 |
| Brisket | 180.0000 | 177.7144 | 176.5600 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
66 entries · top 708.0000 · median 680.4742
Chicken
65 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.1200 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork Ribs
65 entries · top 180.0000 · median 170.2628 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork
65 entries · top 178.8572 · median 169.7144
Brisket
64 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.9714 · 🔥 perfect 180
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Ancillary — Anything Goes
18 entries · top 177.7028 · median 164.3486
Ancillary — Dessert
15 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.1428 · 🔥 perfect 180
Ancillary — Hash
15 entries · top 175.4400 · median 162.7884
Kids-Q — Kids Q
5 entries · top 178.3200 · median 170.8572
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Prissy Pig & Bro | |
| 2 | BBQ Ballers | |
| 3 | John's Amazing Grillz | |
| 4 | Keepin It Smokin Jr. | |
| 5 | Unicorn Cookout |