European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition, 2026

Ubicación: Bucharest, Romania
Fechas de evaluación:: abril 8, 2026 – abril 25, 2026

The European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition celebrates the work of craft chocolate makers creating origin and flavoured chocolate bars from traceable fine cacao. By helping to promote craft chocolate makers, we aim to support the work of cacao farmers producing fine cacao and create a more sustainable market for high-end specialty cacao.

Private label bars made for cacao growers or companies directly sourcing cacao and bars made from liquor are also admissible, provided the chocolate maker and sourcing is declared.

If you also produce filled chocolates, truffles, ganaches, pralines, caramels, fondants, enrobed fruits and nuts and spreads, these can be entered into your national or regional Craft Chocolatier Competition (Italy/Mediterranean, European Open) with no additional registration fee.

Remote judging, 8-25 April 2026

This year judging will be remote and include European judges and members of our international Grand Jury. Samples must be received before the judging begins, to be included and should arrive by 23 March at the latest. Please register BEFORE you send your samples.

Winners of the competition will pass through to the World Final, which will be held in October/November 2026.

Winners’ Announcement Ceremony, 2 May in Bordeaux, France at Show/Colat Festival (details tbc)

Winners of the competition will be announced live at a ceremony organized in Bordeaux, France at Show/Colat Festival on Saturday, 2 May 2026. More details soon.
Please get in touch with us by email if you are interested in participating.

Cacao sourcing and origin traceability

The International Chocolate Awards is committed to supporting economically, socially and environmentally sustainable cacao farming where farmers are paid a reasonable price that reflects the work that goes into growing fine cacao. We also believe that the chocolate with the best flavor profiles comes from directly sourced fine cacao.

As a result, all entrants must provide details of the cacao origin used in their dark and milk chocolate entries, including chocolatiers. These details are given confidentially if preferred. White chocolate and cocoa butter are currently excluded from these requirements, except for unflavoured white chocolate products.

By ‘origin,’ we mean a known region, area, district, or farm recognized as a source of fine cacao. If the origin is not a single farm or cooperative, entrants must specify the cacao sources within the origin. Blends are acceptable if they use no more than three different named origins, including cooperatives, post-harvest centres, commercial farmers, research stations, or individual farms. We do not accept entries where the only specified origin is the cacao-growing country, except for smaller cacao-producing countries (under 4,000 tonnes per year).

These rules apply to all chocolate used in competition entries, including filled chocolates, spreads, and drinking chocolate. Products made with commercial couverture chocolate without a stated cacao origin are not eligible to enter. Details of the origin must be obtained from the chocolate maker or supplier if the entrant is not the chocolate maker.

For full details, please refer to our competition rules.

Judging scores and flavor profiles

All entries will receive comprehensive feedback from our judging system, including the overall product score and standardised feedback statements for all products. We use our advanced interactive evaluation system for judging, which is based on the IICCT flavor profiling system. Scores are weighted to align with specialty coffee scores. Scores will be published on our website for all Grand Jury Finalists and Winners.

Elegibilidad

This competition is exclusively for Bean-to-Bar/Chocolate Maker plain/origin and flavoured bars produced in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Filled chocolates and spreads should be entered into the appropriate national or regional Craft Chocolatier Competition.

The competition is open to all companies whose main business or head office is based in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

All chocolate used in all entries in this competition must be made from cacao with a declared and traceable source. Details of the source must be provided when entering each product and will remain confidential.

El precio de admisión para esta competición es EUR €75 y la cuota para cada inscripción es EUR €70. Los precios serán convertidos a moneda local por su compañía de tarjeta de crédito, si es necesario.