One of the central events in this year’s Salon du Chocolat Professionnel, celebrated in Paris from the 28th to 30th October, was the introduction of the International Cocoa Awards, 2013. Included in the Cocoa of Excellence Programme, this initiative aims to value those cocoa plantations all around the world that can be distinguished by their dedication to quality.

From a selection of 50 finalists, the organisation delivered a total of 15 awards to the most brilliant cocoa samples. In the end, the continent of Africa came away with 5 awards (two to the Ivory Coast and one each to Ghana, Madagascar and Togo), the Asian Pacific region came away with three (two for Malaysia and one for Vietnam), four for the Centrali American and Caribbean region (Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Trinidad and Tobago) and three for South America (Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela). Click here to see more details about each of the award-winning plantations and why their samples deserved their awards.