THE BEST IN THE WORLD GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS 2002

CHATEAU DE BRISSAC, FRANCE FEBRUARY 28,2003

1.- The Objectives

• To reward and honour those who cook with words.
• Help readers find the best out of  the 20000 food and wine books  produced every year.
• To help publishers with international rights to translate and distribute food and wine books.
• To create an opportunity to access the major markets in English, German, Spanish or French for books originated in other languages.
• To increase knowledge of , and respect for, food and wine culture, which promotes peace.

2.-The History of the Awards

Edouard Cointreau founded the World Cookbook Awards in 1995, renamed Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2001. The awards event took place at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1995 and 1996, in Paris in 1997, in Périgueux in 1998, in Versailles in 1999, in Périgueux in 2000, and in Sorges, Capital of the Truffles of Périgord in 2001.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2002 event for books published in 2002 will take place at the Chateau de Brissac, in the Loire Valley next to Angers, France, on February 28, 2003. The following Gourmand World Cookbook Awards  event for books published in 2003 may take place in France (Dordogne,etc.) or in another country (Sweden,etc.)

3.-The Rules for the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2002

• All books published between October 2001 and November 2002 qualify.
• Manuscripts and publishers proofs are also accepted if they are produced in the same period.
• Books are only accepted in their original languages.
• There are no entry fees. The competition is free and open to all.
• Books may be entered by anyone : authors, publishers or even readers.
• The Jury decides in which category books compete, and may change nominees from one category to another at the final jury meeting. The Jury may decide that awards for some categories  remain vacant.

4.-The Process

• In 2002, over 3500 books were received, from 60 countries.
• Books compete initially in their own language . The major number of entries are in English, which represents half of the world production and includes books from 20 countries.In 2002, there have been 3 competitions for books in English-UK, the US, and the Rest of the World.
• There are 2 separate categories for books in french, for those published in France and those outside France. There are 2 categories for Castilian-Spanish, for Spain and America.
• The winners in each language were announced in November 2002, and compete for the Best in the World, announced on February 28,2003 at the Gala Dinner at the Chateau de Brissac, in the Loire River Valley next to Angers, France.

5.- The Jury

• The international jury for all languages and the Best in the World is composed of :

6.- The Categories 

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only truly international competition. They are the Oscars for food and wine books. There are many local or national awards for food and wine books, with many different categories.

Other national food or wine awards around the world have 15 to 50 categories. For instance the German Academy of Gastronomy had 30 winners in German in October 2002, approximately one for  every 45 food and wine books published in German. The French trade magazine Livres Hebdo has 47 headings in its classification for French food and wine books.

In order to fully represent the diversity of food and drink publishing around the world, Gourmand World Cookbook Awards has 30 categories for cookbooks and 15 for wine books, a total of 45 categories. This means that there is one Best in the World winner for every 400 books published.

There are very few awards to honour food and wine books. By comparison, the French , for example,  give many awards to fiction books, with over 1500 different literary  award events.

The nominees and the winners are posted on the internet website. The winners lists are available both by language competition and by categories.

7.-The Impact of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards

Winners books get more visibility in the marketplace and higher sales, often with new print runs.

Translations and international rights deals are negotiated.

Winners use self-adhesive stickers to announce their award to the public. They issue press releases in their local markets, which helps make the Gourmand Awards known worldwide. The winners give permanent presence to the awards on their internet sites, in publishers catalogs and in the following books and authors biographies.

Awards are amazing things. When you win, you really believe in them, when you dont, you pick holes in them. Having been a professional judge of many different things, including food, wine, cooking, recipes, books, radio and television, I know how difficult a job it is.

What doesnt change is the effect awards have on sales. They really do help. Its particularly important for the small market we have here in NZ. Our books are competing with zillions of others coming in from overseas. It is fantastic to have international recognition for NZ books.

Julie Biuso, Author. New Zealand

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