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Call For Entries: The Next Generation Chocolate Competition

Applications are now available for the 3rd bi-annual Next Generation Chocolatier Competition, the only national competition for chocolatiers in the US. This year, I am acting as the Head Judge.

The competition is open to professional chocolatiers and culinary students living and working in the US. This year's theme is "Salty Sweet." ChocolateLife members are among the very first to hear about the competition and have access to the guidelines and application form.

The Competition Guidelines and Application form are attached to this post for you to download and read. It's a two-step process. You must first submit an application, which is then vetted. 20 semi-finalists will be selected to submit entries for final judging. The application deadline is August 1, 2008. NOTE: The application deadline has been extended to August 15th. There is no fee to apply.

Please use this forum to ask questions about the competition. The competition's organizer, Curtis Vreeland, is a ChocolateLife member and he and I (in my role as head judge) will do our best to answer all of your questions in a timely fashion.

Tags: competition, next generation

Attachments:

NXTGENGuidelinesApplication.pdf, 129 KB

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff on July 31, 2008 at 6:28pm: You are correct sarah...

now we have to see if we "make the cut"....

I sent nude photos of myself in with the bio....probably a bad idea in retrospect....; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bill on August 1, 2008 at 9:11am: Clay,

I'm finishing my application and have some questions on the bio. Do you want it to focus on chocolates or a complete professional bio? My background was pretty far from the culinary scene until about 3-4 years ago but is part of my story. Just wondering if you wanting to know about our training/experience with chocolate or a complete bio. Thanks. Bill; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on August 1, 2008 at 4:34pm: Bill:

Actually, from the contest's point of view we are more interested in your chocolate professional bio. However, personally I am fascinated by the roads people take to get to chocolate. So a quick sketch of your professional life before you turned to chocolate would be great. It won't have any influence on either the selection or judging processes.

:: Clay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alessandra on August 3, 2008 at 11:14pm: When and where will the competition take place? Is is open to the general public? To watch, I mean.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on August 7, 2008 at 11:10pm: Alessandra:

The judging process is not open to the public. All of the applications are sent to me as the head judge and I evaluate them. 20 are selected and are invited to participate in the judging. This means that they must supply samples to be judged. The judging will take place in NYC in October, in private. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony - to which the public is invited to attend - in early November.

:: Clay; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sarah Hart on August 4, 2008 at 6:27pm: Hey, so I am a big dork and I can't figure out how to fill out an application that is in Pdf. Can someone clue me in on how to fill out the application part of this thing? D'oh!; ▶ Reply to This