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

Brady Brelinski (United States), Visiting Nurse Service of New York, Flavors of Cacao

Vio Cheung (Hong Kong), Chocolate taster

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

Scott Craig (United States), DallasFood.org, DallasFood.org

Claudia da Fonseca (Netherlands), Cacaolab Zaans Gedaan

Katrin Flietner (Germany), xocoatl-feine schokoladen/Owner, xocoatl-feine schokoladen

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

Pauline Gingnagel (Netherlands), 624214116, Pauline Gingnagel

Carlo Grenci (Italy), CARLO GRENCI SRL unipersi

Robert Hatfield (United Kingdom), Unemployed

Henkjan Laats (Netherlands), Cacaomuseum Amsterdam

Per Liss (Sweden), Chokladakademien, Chokladakademien

Marjan Luttik (Netherlands), Zaans Gedaan

Bostjan Makarovic (United Kingdom), Aphaia

Luis Mancini (United Kingdom), Cacaotales, luis mancini

Stefania Marcuz (Italy), Food & Beverage Expert, Taster & Consultant

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

Ildiko Nemeth (Italy), Catering

Sabien Poutsma (Netherlands), Zaans Gedaan | CacaoLab

Istvan Puskas (Netherlands), ABN AMRO Bank N.V. / Relationship Manager for Financial Institutions

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

Michaela Schupp (Partner) (Germany), Chocolats-de-luxe.de GmbH, Permanent Grand Jury

Raymond Soerodikromo (Netherlands), The Chocolate Shop / Owner, The Chocolate Shop

Svein-Magnus Sørensen (Norway), Founder and Chief Tasting Officer, Sjokoladesmaking.no

Terese Weiss (Denmark), Interpreter / Chocolate Educator

Robert Winters (Netherlands), Pasamore and Zaans Gedaan Cacaolab