The International Chocolate Awards is pleased to announce the winners of the 1.er Concurso Nacional de Chocolate Colombiano. The prize ceremony took place on December 17, in a virtual setting.

This event was held within the framework of the IX Salón del Cacao y Chocolate Colombiano, a national chocolate show celebrated from November 25-28 in Arauquita, Arauca, one of Colombia’s major producers of fine cacao. With the partnership of the International Chocolate Awards, the contest was organized by the Gremio Cacaotero Araucano with the support of the Government of the Arauca Department, the Municipal Government of Arauquita, the National Federation of Cacao Growers FEDECACAO and the cacao cooperatives Coomprocar and Coopcacao.

With the goal of promoting the emerging fine origin chocolate sector in cacao growing countries, the International Chocolate Awards has created a program of competitions and educational initiatives, designated as our Cacao Country Support Program. The program has its roots in 2015, with the creation of the Peruvian National Competition, which was joined by the Central American Regional competition in 2017, hosted in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. These events focus on fine origin cacao from specific countries and regions. Cacao Country Support Competitions follow the same rules and protocols used for all our competition, which are overseen by the IICCT and our expert Grand Jury panel.

The objectives of the present contest have been to support excellence, generate competition, give added value to fine Colombian cacao by recognizing high-quality chocolates and derived products, promote sustainable businesses and increase chocolate consumption in the national market. The competition uses protocols already validated by a committee of international experts, which guarantee independence, transparency and speed in evaluations during the execution of the competition.