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.

Thorald Abramowski (Germany), thorsoft / mixed-pixel

Carol Barnshaw (United Kingdom), amateur chocolate taster

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

Deborah Bonetti (Italy), Il Giorno

Romi Burks (United States), Southwestern University Professor, ProfRomi

Marie-Blanche Camps (United Kingdom), L’ECHO Magazine / Editor, L’ECHO Magazine

Ana Maria Catuneanu (United Kingdom), MD- Clincal and Research Fellow in Gastroenterology, Oxford University Hospitals

Tracy Chapman (United Kingdom), Chocolate Voyage

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

Mireille Discher (United Kingdom), F&B Consultant

Estela Duque (United Kingdom), Founder, Moulinet Chocolat Limited

Anjul Dutt (United Kingdom), Food Journalist

Jennifer Earle (United Kingdom), Chocolate Ecstasy Tours, Chocolate Ecstasy Tours

Esther Garcia Gonzalez (United Kingdom), University of Oxford/Scientist

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

Nancy Gilchrist (United Kingdom), Master of Wine

Raquel Gonzalez Setien (Norway), Privado

Giovanna Gori (Italy), Chocolate Taster / Fotografa

Barry Johnson (United Kingdom), Chocolatier and Pastry Chef – Owner of The Cocoa Lab, Lecturer at The National Bakery School & Home Chocolate Factory

Jeffrey Lee (Hong Kong), Cult de Choco Ltd. / Director, Cult de Choco

Judith Lewis (United Kingdom), Mostly About Chocolate, Mostly About Chocolate

Jenny Linford (United Kingdom), Food Writer

Per Liss (Sweden), Chokladakademien, Chokladakademien

Bostjan Makarovic (United Kingdom), Aphaia

Janette Marshall (United Kingdom), freelance writer

Bruce McMichael (United Kingdom), The Lemon Grove/ food and drink writer, The Lemon Grove

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

Jackie Mitchell (United Kingdom), Freelance Journalist, www.jackiemwriting.com

Dipak Nayar (United Kingdom), Craft beer

Chris Osburn (United Kingdom), Freelance journalist, tikichris

Alessandro Palozzo (Italy), Agricultural WO

Marianne Parry (United Kingdom), Chocolate Enthususiast, Doctor, Artist

Zoe Perrett (United Kingdom), Food writer

Steven Pierce (United Kingdom), Food writer

Teresa Politano (United States), Writer, Journalist

Almudena Ponce de León Riaño (United Kingdom), Independent

Maricel Presilla (United States), Chef, Restaurateur, Author, Permanent Grand Jury

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

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

Rachel Sellers (United Kingdom), Marketing

Sarah Shattuck (United Kingdom), Fortnum & Mason, Assistant Chocolate Buyer

Alex Shebar (United Kingdom), City Director of Yelp in London, Yelp

Katie Smith (United Kingdom), Editor at Confectionery Production magazine, Confectionery Production

Felicity Spector (United Kingdom), chief writer, Channel 4 News

Vishella Tews (United Kingdom), Seventy%

Terese Weiss (Denmark), Interpreter / Chocolate Educator

Sela Yair (United Kingdom), chocolatewalks, London Chocolate Meetup