The International Chocolate Awards 2016 World Final was held in London on the 14th October 2016, and we were very lucky to have won 3 awards for all the chocolates we have entered into this competition.

To say we’re “over the moon” is an understatement! Chocolatiers from all around the world have to win at their regional competitions first, before they are even eligible to enter the World Final, and so the competition is pretty tough. The judging took place during Chocolate Week in London, with judges coming from all around the world. The judging system looks pretty daunting as so many aspects of the chocolates are being assessed, and after this round of judging, there’s another round of judging by the Grand Jury to determine the final results. This year there’re over 1700 entries for the World Final alone!

Last year we won our first award in the World Final for “Bangkok” (Mango & Passion Fruit Caramel). This year, in the British National Competition, we won 3 awards, and so we thought we’d put in all 3 into the World Final. Knowing what the standards of the entries were like, we had hoped to walk away with one award, and thought that we would be extremely lucky to get two awards. So imagine how we felt when we got an award for all 3 chocolates we entered into the competition, especially with our “New York” (Apple & Calvados Caramel) winning a Gold award in the “Milk Chocolate Enrobed Caramels” category! Usually there’s only one gold award in each category, but in this case, it’s a joint gold with Theo Chocolates, as the grand jury couldn’t decide which one was better! We are so honoured to be sharing the top spot with this experienced chocolatier, and to be the British company to win gold in the caramels category.

The other two chocolates won bronze awards: “Hong Kong” (Soy Caramel) in the “Milk Chocolate Enrobed Caramels” category; and “Kagoshima” (Yuzu & Pink Peppercorn) in the “Ganaches or truffles using mixed dark/milk/white for coating and fillings” category. 

Below is a video clip on the announcement of the milk chocolate enrobed caramels category (sorry for the rather poor videography – trying to hold the camera above the head and zoom in, at the same time of trying to contain any excitement, wasn’t the easiest thing).