Final call for Academy of Chocolate 2019 awards
A final call for entries for 2019’s Academy of Chocolate Awards is being made to find the finest bars, filled chocolates, drinking chocolate, chocolate spreads and packaging categories.
The initial deadline for submitting products is Wednesday, January 31, with a second stage of the competition calling for entries of final products by February 4, in time for category judging beginning later that month.
More than 100 expert judges will make up the panel, including leading chocolatiers and some of the UK’s most prominent food writers and bloggers. The judges will convene at Westminster Kingsway for a 25 session judging process expected over a 12 week period.
Together they will mark the products on appearance, depth of aroma and flavour, length and complexity to determine the gold, silver, and bronze winners in each category. Promising products that are not yet at award-winning level will receive commendations.
Winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony in July. These include the famous Golden Bean award, which recognises the achievement of a producer controlling the entire process from roasting the bean to the finished, supremely delicious bar, and the Golden BonBon award, which was introduced in 2017 in response to the quality and creativity increasingly achieved in the popular filled chocolates category.
This year, the Academy has also launched a new Brand Awareness Award which celebrates the pleasure of enjoying chocolate as a complete moment by moment experience, from attractive functional packaging to enjoyable mouthfeel. The awards also seek to identify Rising Stars both in the UK and internationally.
Started in 2005, the Academy of Chocolate awards have gone from strength to strength mirroring the growth of the fine chocolate market. In its inaugural year, there were 12 entries. By 2018, that figure had grown to a record-breaking 1,200 submissions from more than 45 countries.
Sara Jayne Stanes OBE, chairman, Academy of Chocolate, said: “Ever since the Academy of Chocolate Awards debuted, the response from across the whole world of chocolate has been overwhelming. Not only has the number of entries soared, so too have the levels of innovation and quality.”
