One of the most prominent themes of our World Confectionery Conference is its core focus on sustainability, and the category has attracted interest for our annual awards to be presented at our event this year, writes Neill Barston.

Deadlines for making a nomination are this week (Thursday 23rd July), and we are continuing to welcome entrants across our six areas, which include equipment, ingredients innovation, best new product, team of the year, and emerging enterprise of the year.

Among entrants for our 2026 World Confectionery Awards, which remain free to enter, is a thriving cocoa farm in Maui, which has entered our sustainability category as a largely-self sustaining enterprise enriching the diversity of crop supplies.

The owners of the farm explained: “The cacao industry is in need of an alternative farming instead of depending on countries like West Africa, Indonesia, Ecuador with problems they are facing with disease caused by mono cropping and with international tariff’s that do not affect Hawali.

“So our self-sustainability cacao farm includes its own well, the perfect rain fall 59″ to 79 inches, a solar powered system and the perfect year-round weather. There are currently, 600 developing trees Trinitario, Criollo and Heirloom with additional room for Forastero trees totalling 3,000 on these 15 acres alone.”

They added that the site is also plentiful in other crops including oranges,
tangerines, lemons, avocados, soursops, edible palms, macadamia nuts, coconut, that all add further to its self-sustaining credentials.

• Entries for this year’s World Confectionery Awards, which will be presented at our 2026 World Confectionery Conference on 10 September at the event in America Square, London, are free to nominate, but any contenders will need to be with us by Thursday, 23rd July, with the returned entry forms that can be downloaded via our dedicated event website at confectioneryconference.com where you can also register to attend this year’s industry showcase.