Confectionery Awards announces judging panel

January 17, 2024

Proudly presented in collaboration with Confectionery Live, the International Confectionery Awards will uphold our tradition of championing innovators, thought leaders and trailblazers working in the global industry.

We are pleased to announce our final judging panel, who represent a breadth of experience and expertise in the industry, bringing their know-how across the chocolate and sugar confectionery space to the Awards.

Clay Gordon, Technical Editor of International Confectionery Magazine and Founder of TheChocolateLife will serve as Head Judge, overseeing the judges and judging process. As a regular contributor to International Confectionery Magazine, Clay is as a noted observer and critic in the worlds of cocoa and chocolate, work he has pursued for more than twenty years.

He has been participating in, helping organise, and running industry awards programs and competitions since 2004. His first experience was as an assistant to the organisers of the World Pastry Forum and National & World Pastry Team Championships held in the US. He was the head judge in the Next Generation Chocolatier Competition, the Legends of Chocolate Awards for The Big Chocolate Show, for the Craft Chocolat Challenge and in the first Best Cacaos of Tabasco (Mexico) awards.

Barry Colenso, Master Chocolatier, is an expert at chocolate new product creation and development that can be delivered on a commercial scale. Barry balances tremendous creativity and innovation with practicality and the need to work within an agreed cost framework. He has world class knowledge about all things chocolate and chocolate applications and will bring this expertise with him as a judge.

Francois Adele, Managing Director of Dumoulin brings with him 30 years of experience in the development and fine-tuning of coating recipes for chocolate and sugar in medium and large capacity coating machines throughout the world. An active member and past President of the European Candy Kettle Club, he has taken part in honouring a company representative from the European confectionery industry who have excelled in research and development and contributed to the industry’s progress.

Marcia Mogolensky, Consultant, has been involved in the confectionery industry for more than 25 years, first as a consultant and then for Mintel, where she worked for 23 years, focusing on chocolate, sugar and gum confectionery on a global scale. Marcia retired from Mintel at the end of 2023 and is now back as a Consultant in the industry. While at Mintel, she authored numerous articles, presentations and analyses on the industry, following trends, consumer behaviour and industry challenges.

Paul Wayne Gregory, Chocolatier, has worked in the fine food industry for over 30 years. Originally starting out as a baker, then specialising in fine patisserie and found his true love in the art of chocolate. He has worked in Michelin star restaurants and spent time working for world class patisserie and chocolatiers, in Paris – with Mon. Jean Valentine and in Barcelona – with Orio Balaguer.

Finally, Caitlin Gittins, Editor and Rebecca Spayne, Managing Editor of International Confectionery Magazine finish the judging line-up, as Caitlin is responsible for all editorial content and is committed to celebrating the industry’s accomplishments, while Rebecca, as Managing Editor, brings with her over five years of experience in leading the content strategy for Hand Media International.

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