After three-days of breath-taking competition between nineteen national Chocolate Masters, the results of the fifth World Chocolate Masters competition have been announced. The event took place at the "Salon du Chocolat Professionnel" exhibition at Porte de Versailles in Paris. At this year's world finals, organised for the fifth time by Cacao Barry®, Callebaut® and Carma®, Davide Comaschi, winner of the Italian World Chocolate Masters preselection, was selected as the "World Chocolate Master 2013" by an international jury composed of twenty-three leading chocolate professionals. In second place was Marike Van Beurden from The Netherlands and in third place Deniz Karaca from Australia.
With the theme of this year's competition being "The Architecture of Taste", the jury carefully evaluated the contestants' work and creativity through chocolate. The jury was headed by Honorary President of Honour, Iginio Massari, famous Italian Relais Desserts and included Presidents Norman Love, well-known Chocolatier from USA, Angelo Musa, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2007 and Sergio Herman, 3 stars Michelin Chef and Spécial President for this year final. In addition to the overall winners, the jury gave special awards for "Best moulded praline", “Best dipped praline”, "Best gastronomic chocolate dessert", "Best chocolate pastry" and "Best chocolate showpiece". As a highlight this year, additional awards have been granted for "Best Creation of the Architect of the world" and "International Press Award".
This year and for the second time, fans had the possibility to vote online for their favourite chocolate showpiece. The social media award won by Canada in 2011 celebrated Luis Robledo from Mexico who gathered an impressive number of likes on the world chocolate masters. The overall winner was awarded the World Chocolate Masters 2013 trophy specially created by leading Dutch designer Rob Verhoeven.