As part of our commitment to transparency, we publish the names of the judges for each competition. (If judges opt-in for their names to be made public.)

Each competition is judged by a panel of experts, food journalists, sommeliers and pastry chefs, including the names listed below. The competition is overseen by members of our international Grand Jury, who travel to each competition.

We would like to thank our judges for their hard work, including any who chose for their names not to be listed. You can find the full list of winners for this competition in our ‘Rounds & results’ section.

Cat Black (United Kingdom), Food Writer, Food writer

Sandro Bosticco (Italy), www.winesurf.it, Sandro Bosticco

Martin Christy (United Kingdom), Seventy%, Permanent Grand Jury

Mireille Discher (United Kingdom), F&B Consultant

Celine Francis (Belgium), None for time being

George Gensler (United States), Manhattan Chocolate Society, Permanent Grand Jury

Katja Goede (Germany), Chocolatier

Eduardo Kasahara (France), Consultant

Alena Kastnerová (Czech Republic), National Theatre Brno, a writer/copywriter

Dorothee Linke (Germany), Norderneyer Morgen / journalist

Kate McNally (Belgium), Project coordinator QCEA

Monica Meschini (Italy), Chocolate/Tea Taster, Wine Sommelier, Permanent Grand Jury

Mara Nocilla (Italy), Giornalist

Alex Rast (United Kingdom), Consultant, Reviewer, Seventy% , Permanent Grand Jury

Michaela Schupp (Judge) (Germany), Chocolats-de-luxe.de, Chocolats-de-luxe.de

Jana Siegl (Czech Republic), Event Coordinator (in a pharmaceutical company)

Julien Simonis (Belgium), Independant consultant

Joy Skipper (United Kingdom), Food and Nutrition Consultant, Joy Skipper

Lilla Toth-Tatai (Austria), Little Beetle Chocolates Ltd., Little Beetle Chocolates

Peggy Van Lierde (Belgium), Choco Story Brussels

Nicolae Velciov (Romania), Choco Manifesto / Partner, Choco Manifesto