The International Chocolate Awards in 2026
Launching the 14th Edition of the International Chocolate Awards, we are proud to announce our calendar for the 2026 season. As dates and locations for some competitions are still being confirmed, please check our site regularly to make sure you don’t miss your regional competition. The judging will be partly in-person and partly remote, with samples sent to judges at home. Please refer to the individual competition announcements for more information.
Following our founding principle of transparency and focus on fine cacao, we relaunched all of our filled chocolate competitions as “Craft Chocolatier Competitions” in 2021-22. We want to celebrate and champion the chocolate makers and companies using cacao with an identifiable and traceable source. This change brings our chocolatier entries inline with our bean-to-bar competitions. You can read more about this move forward in our announcement here.
All winners of any of the regional competitions are eligible to enter our prestigious World Final and World Final Ceremony held later in 2026. We’re also proud to continue our Cacao Country Support competitions in Colombia and Mexico.
2026 Calendar
- Craft Drinking Chocolate Competition
- samples accepted until: 19 December 2025, in Bucharest, Romania
- in-person judging in Florence: 10-11 January
- Drinking Chocolate Brew Competition: 18-19 January at SIGEP Rimini, Italy
- winners’ announcement: 19 January at SIGEP Rimini, Italy
- WINNERS
- DACH and Eastern European Craft Chocolatier Competitions
- open for registration: 1 December 2025
- open for samples: 7 – 20 January 2026, Vienna, Austria
- registration closing: 18 January 2026
- judging in-person in Vienna: 22-23 January
- winners’ announcement at Vienna Schokoladefest, 24 January, 5PM
- WINNERS
- Italy/Mediterranean Craft Chocolatier Competition
- open for registration: February 2026
- open for samples: February 2026
- in-person judging in Florence: 28 February – 2 March 2026
- European, Middle Eastern and African Bean-to-Bar Competition
- open for registration: February 2026
- samples accepted: February – March 2026
- remote judging: April 2026
- winners’ announcement: 2-3 May 2026 at ShowColat, Bordeaux, France
- Asia-Pacific Bean-to-bar and Craft Chocolatier Competition
- open for registration: February 2026
- open for samples (all categories): February 2026
- remote judging for all categories: March 2026
- winners’ announcement: 4-5 April, Kyoto, Japan
- British Craft Chocolate Competition
- open for registration: February 2026
- samples accepted: March 2026
- hybrid judging in March 2026
- winners’ announcement: end of March 2026
- European Open – Craft Chocolatier Competitions
- French, Benelux, Scandinavian competitions organized remotely at the same time
- open for registration: March 2026
- samples accepted: April 2026
- in-person judging in Bordeaux, France: end of April
- winners’ announcement: 2-3 May 2026 at ShowColat, Bordeaux, France
- Americas /North America: USA & Canada/- Bean-to-bar and Craft Chocolatier Competition
- open for registration: March 2026
- open for samples (all categories): March 2026
- remote judging: April 2026
- winners’ announcement: May 2026
- Americas /Latin America & the Caribbean/ – Bean-to-bar and Craft Chocolatier Competition
- open for registration: March 2026
- open for samples (all categories): March 2026
- remote judging: April 2026
- Canadian Craft Chocolatier Competition
- open for registration: March 2026
- open for samples: March 2026
- remote judging: April 2026
- winners’ announcement: end of April 2026
- [NEW!] Indian Craft Chocolate Competition
- open for registration: February 2026
- open for samples: February – April 2026
- remote judging: April – May 2026
- winners’ announcement: June 2026
- winners’ ceremony event: December 2026 at the Indian Craft Chocolate Festival
- Perú – 11° Concurso Nacional de Chocolate Peruano
- open for registration: May 2026
- samples accepted: May 2026
- remote judging: June 2026
- winners’ announcement: mid-July at the Salon del Cacao y Chocolate in Lima, Peru
- WORLD FINAL 2026
- registration open: early September
- remote judging October-November 2026
- winners’ announcement: early November
- Colombia – Cacao Country Support Competition
- registration open: October 2026
- samples accepted: October 2026
- remote judging: November 2026
- winners’ announcement: end of November 2026
Latest update: 28 January 2026
Which competition should you enter?
Because we are running our plain/origin and flavoured bean-to-bar chocolate competitions separately from our Craft Chocolatier Competitions, if you are a company that creates products relevant for both, you might not be sure which competitions you should enter your specific products to.
- Regional Craft Chocolatier Competitions accept and judge chocolate products made from couverture or the entrant’s own bean-to-bar chocolate, both having a clearly traceable source for the cacao used.
Product types accepted: filled chocolates, truffles, ganaches, pralines, caramels, fondants, enrobed fruits and nuts and spreads made from chocolate couverture or from the entrant’s own bean-to-bar chocolate, as well as flavoured chocolate bars made from chocolate couverture (but not bean-to-bar).
- Regional Bean-to-Bar Competitions accept and judge plain/origin chocolate bars and flavoured chocolate bars made from the entrant’s own bean-to-bar chocolate, all products having a clearly traceable source for the cacao used.
Product types accepted: (all bean-to-bar!) plain chocolate bars, single origin plain chocolate bars, flavoured chocolate bars, flavoured single origin chocolate bars.
As an example, a company creating bars and filled chocolates from their own bean-to-bar chocolate should therefore enter their plain/origin and flavoured bars to the relevant Regional Bean-to-Bar Competition (eg. Americas, European-Middle Eastern-African, Asia-Pacific) and their bonbons, dragées, spreads to the relevant Regional Craft Chocolatier Competition (eg. Americas, Canada, Eastern Europe, DACH, Asia-Pacific etc.).
Whereas, a company creating bars and filled chocolates from couverture, should enter all of their products to the relevant Regional Craft Chocolatier Competition.
We hope that this explanation makes it clearer where to enter your chocolate products. But if you are still unsure, feel free to contact us for further guidance.
We look forward to seeing many of our regular and also new entrants in their respective competitions and we wish all our entrants good luck!
