Innovations in Chocolate Cuisine: A Food and Beverage Challenge - Cocoa Research Centre, The University of the West Indies

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Innovations in Chocolate Cuisine

A Food and Beverage Challenge

Cocoa Research Centre invites members of the public to take part in "Innovations in Chocolate Cuisine: A food and beverage challenge" which forms an integral part of our World Cocoa and Chocolate Day festivities. We are challenging residents to create innovative food, beverages or desserts using local cocoa or chocolate, and other ingredients (preferably sourced locally), to present for judging on Day 2 of the WCCD7expo - September 29th, 2018. Please visit our Facebook page to view photos of previous contest years - see links below - and learn more about the contest.

Join the WhatsApp group or Trello board for news/updates on the contest or to ask questions about the contest - but please do not post unrelated messages/news in either forum.

Venue: The UWI Sport and Physical Education Centre

Guidelines for this year's competition are listed below.

Registration dates

Early bird registration deadline is July 15th, 2018.
Pre-registration is free for participants who confirm their entries by July 15th, 2018 and submit recipes/ingredient lists.

Registration after July 15th (or registration without submission of ingredient lists) will require a registration fee of $100 per participant or team. Each team must have at least one food-badge compliant member.

A late registration fee of $50 (total cost $150) will be added to the registration cost for persons registering after 4:00pm on August 15th, 2018. Registration will be closed on August 31st, 2018 at 12:00pm. A late payment fee will be added after the payment deadline of September 5th, 2018 at 3:00pm.

Guidelines

Basics

The contest is open to all persons residing in Trinidad and Tobago.
Judging will take place in three categories on day 2 of the WCCD expo – Savoury, Sweet and Drinks.
Local chocolate or cocoa must be an important ingredient in and contributor to the flavour of your creation. Consider using the Trinidad and Tobago Fine Cocoa Factory as a source for your entries.
Your creation must be original, innovative and should not have been entered in any other previous competition, or entered in previous Innovations in Chocolate Cuisine (IICC) contests.
Contestants may enter in more than one category but must only enter one item in each category. This also applies for preliminary judging of entries. Please pick your best candidate entry for submission.
Entry forms will be available online only. A downloadable pdf version for printing is available upon request.
Persons desirous of competing must submit an entry form or call in their registration details by the deadline of August 31st, 2018. Late registration fee is applicable after August 10th, 2018.

Contest Specifics

Confirmed finalists must present three plates/portions/servings of each entry/innovation for tasting by the three judges, one for each judge, e.g. if entering in the Savoury category, three separate plates of the savoury item must be presented for judging, one plate per judge.
If there are more than five entrants in a category, contestants will be asked to submit a description of their entries to be evaluated in a prejudging of that category by CRC staff on September 1st. Entrants will be contacted using the information on their Entry form. Based on the prejudging, you will be informed of your qualification for participation in the finals. Based on previous years, the Sweet/dessert category is always the most over-subscribed.
Five finalists in each category will be chosen for the "entries face off" on September 29th.
A guaranteed spot in the finals is given to the first new person to register or the first former winner to register. All other contestants may be subject to a preliminary judging round (depending on the number of contestants) in which they must answer questions about their item and be assessed a score to determine whether they will be in the finals.
If there are five registered persons in any given category and there is only one additional person requesting to compete that person can elect to be placed on stand-by for the finals, with no guarantee of being allowed to compete unless there is a no show or if the schedule permits without inconveniencing the judges or sponsors who have to present prize vouchers.
Finalists for 2018 (and previous years) will be listed in the IICC Archive on Trello.

Judging

Judging will be on taste (35%), originality (35%) presentation (10%) and marketability (20%) the latter which is to be scored based on responses to questions submitted before the finals therefore marketability will not be scored on the day of the finals. CRC reserves the right to change these criteria.
Finalists are required to be at the judging table at least 30 minutes before judging of their category begins. CRC reserves the right to disqualify contestants if they do not show up on time.
Judging will begin at 9:30 am with the Savoury category. Sweet and Drinks categories will follow respectively, however please bear in mind there may be delays based on the judging times.
At the end of each category, judges score sheets will be collected and collated to sum up the scores and determine the winner.

Sales of your creations

Entrants may sell their innovations or other cocoa/chocolate products at the exhibition. To do this, please apply to CRC in advance and register as an exhibitor (confirmed with payment of the cover charge of $200 per day (or $350 for both Friday and Saturday) by September 5th, 2018. This fee will allow for sales to be conducted at the IICC entrants table at the end of the judging.
Entrants who wish to sell their creations must possess a valid food badge to sell unsealed food. A soft copy (scan) of your badge to verify validity will be required before approval will be granted.

Payment

Payment to CRC is required in advance by September 5th, 2018 at 3:00pm for IICC registration or sales. Please note this is a payment deadline, not the registration deadline which is August 31st, 2018.
Registration is free for those who pre-register by July 15th. All pre-registered participants who show up on the finals will be entered in a random draw to win a voucher for 50% discount off the fee for CRC's popular Introductory Chocolate Making course.

Other Important Notes

Kindly note that any requirement for food preparation on site must be approved by CRC in advance. We prefer all creations be brought ready for tasting as our venue restrictions prevent onsite food preparation. Entrants will be allowed to plate their creations on site.
A sink will be provided for entrants who need it. Entrants must provide their own cutlery or plates for the contest. Any entrants needing help with provision of such must notify CRC by September 5th, 2018 so that we can try to help source items for use.
Persons whom CRC is unable to contact for pre-judging based on the information given in their online form will be disqualified and unable to participate in the finals. Please double-check the information you provide and ensure you are able to check your e-mail account and/or are reachable at the telephone number given.

Click to fill out the Online Entry Form