TOP LIMITED PRODUCTION RULES

RULES

1. Requirements

The extra virgin olive oils (hereinafter EVOOs) submitted may be presented solely by individual producers, producer associations and producing companies provided such oils are registered for sale under a brand name. The EVOOs must belong to the 2023/2024 harvest campaign and each candidate may submit a single sample per type of oil; i.e., different samples from the same company may be eligible, so long as they they correspond to different types of oils in terms of their commercial presentation (monovarietals, blends, organic, etc…). Each of them must be registered separately.
The samples must be accompanied by a physiochemical analysis report carried out by a laboratory recognized by the International Olive Council (hereinafter IOC) or, alternatively, certified with the ISO 17025 standard, in which the following parameters should be specified: Acidity, peroxide value, K270 and K232.
The EVOOs submitted should come from a batch of less than 2,500 liters, stored at the oil-mill that sent them, with the volume of that batch properly specified in the inscription form.
The candidate must keep the EVOO in their facilities until at least 30 days after the closing of the competition’s application period, as the organization may require a new sample within this period, in-person, so as to guarantee the origin of the oils submitted and verify the declared volume. The organizers will verify the accuracy of the submitted sample in competition by a guaranteed comparative analysis between the sample sent and the one taken from the oil mill. At least 10% of the samples selected for the TOP20 will be checked, chosen randomly before a licensed notary.
In the event of being unable to verify the origin of the sample by means of the authorized comparative system, the organizers reserve the right to remove the sample from the competition, informing the company that submitted it.

2. How To Apply

2.1. The online registration form must completed in its entirety via the REGISTRATION section in the website and the participation fee for the competition. If you are going to register several samples, you must fill out a registration for each one of them.
2.2. Once the registration form has been completed, the website will redirect you to pay the participation fee in the contest, which is set at 195 euros (taxes included) per sample submitted.
2.3. The following materials must be sent by courier delivery to the address indicated below:

• Signed report from the accredited laboratory with the results of the physical-chemical analysis referred to above in section 1
• Two 500 ml. (16.9 fl. oz.) samples. packaged in opaque glass (or can) of the same capacity, duly packed, of each participating olive oil. On the label of each sample, the reference that you have received when you complete the inscription has to be noted, that is, the same generated string of characters that will be shown at the time of online registration.
• Two bottles or packages -as sold in retail- of each sample submitted, so that the organization can use it in a promotional way if it is selected, as well as for this packaging to be assesed in the Best Packaging Awards section of the competition, and lastly, in order to take the necessary pictures for the Guide.

Therefore, the package sent must contain the bulletin and 4bottles per sample.
All of the above must be sent to:
EVOOLEUM AWARDS LIMITED PRODUCTION
EVOOLEUM Awards
REF.No: (Include the reference number assigned during the online registration).
Avda. Menéndez Pidal, s/n. Alameda del Obispo. Edificio 3. Despacho 213-AEMO
14004 Córdoba
Tel.: (+34) 957 040 774
Móv.: (+34) 654 118 418
E-mail: difusion@evooleum.com
Contact: Pilar Marín
Sample reception hours: 09:00-14:30h (Monday to Friday)

3. Process of Selection and Assessment of the Samples.

Once the deadline for receiving samples is completed, the competition’s organizers will proceed to deliver two bottles of each oil with its reference number to a licensed notary. The other two samples will remain in the care of the organizers; one will be used for the comparative test, if selected, and the other to determine the Global Quality Index in case of a tie.
The notary will remove the label with the assigned reference number and identify each bottle with a secret code, which will then be returned to the organization. The connection between the samples and the secret codes will be kept by the licensed notary and will not be known by any member of the organizing committee.
After the organoleptic assessment by the jury has been completed, the organizers will deliver the list of secret codes with the corresponding scores to the notary, and the notary will in turn give back a list of the original reference numbers alongside the assigned score for each sample, in a sealed envelope.
A prestigious international jury, following the International Olive Council’s modified assessment sheet, will organoleptically evaluate the participating oils. The arithmetic mean of the total scores of all members of the jury shall be considered by removing the highest and lowest values, thus resulting in a final score of 0 to 100 points. This average shall be deemed with two decimal places.

4. Awards

Depending on the evaluation sheet of the jury, the 20 EVOOs that have obtained the highest total score will be selected for the edition of the Guide, which will make up the EVOOLEUM TOP20 EVOOs of Limited Production.
In the case that two or more oils obtain the same total score, with two decimal places of the average obtained as indicated, they will be ordered according to the Global Quality Index determined in the analysis.

5. Jury

The organizers will select those who, in their opinion, are the finest experts for the organoleptic assessment of the samples, forming a top-level, renowned jury. All samples will be tasted by a sufficient number of members of the jury.
The Award for Best Packaging will include a special jury formed by renowned professionals of the marketing and design industries, who will be in charge of evaluating the uniqueness and quality of the presentations.

6. Registration Period

For producers inside the UE: The deadline for applying to EVOOLEUM will close on March 20, 2024. The deadline to receive the samples will close on March 27, 2024

For producers outside the UE: The deadline for applying EVOOLEUM and to receive the samples will close on March 27, 2024. The contestants who send their samples from countries that must be submitted to Customs, must especially consider the deadlines of these procedures so that the samples arrive at their destination on the indicated date.

The organization is not responsible for delays caused in transport, or customs inspections, nor will it be responsible for any customs expenses, or derived from transport. Consequently, the participation fee will not be reimbursed in case the samples do not arrive on the indicated date. Furthermore, EVOOLEUM is not responsible for loss of merchandise during transit or for breakages that must be replaced by the participant.

7. Awards Ceremony

The Awards ceremony will be held at the place indicated by the organization that, in any case, will be a European capital and in the context of a prestigious gastronomic event.

8. Trophies and Diplomas

The twenty EVOOs with the highest score awarded by the jury, EVOOLEUM’s TOP20 Limited Production EVOOs, will receive a commemorative trophy with the contest logo.
The winners will only be able to include the Award on the label of the packaging containing the batch to which the winning sample belongs, under the rules of graphic representation of the Award set by the organization. If this requirement is not met, the organization will prevent the participation of the offending company in successive editions, in addition to indicating the offence on the competiotion’s website.

9. Acceptance

The participation in this call of the International Competition for the Quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oils, which is granted by the EVOOLEUM AWARDS, implies the acceptance of these conditions. The jury’s decision is final and non-appealable, and participation in this competition implies the acceptance of said decision.
Likewise, the acceptance of these bases implies that the 20 selected oils will appear in the EVOOLEUM’s TOP20 Limited Production EVOOs section of the EVOOLEUM World’s TOP100 Extra Virgin Olive Oils Guide.

10. EVOOLEM WORLD’S TOP 100 EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OILS GUIDE

The results of this extraordinary call will be published in the EVOOLEUM’s TOP20 Limited Production EVOOs section of the EVOOLEUM Guide, with the score obtained in the contest.
The EVOOLEUM Guide, published in English and Spanish in paper and digital format, will include a complete file on each of the 100 best oils in the contest and an annexed section with the 20 best EVOOs in the world of limited production (less than 2,500 l.), containing a photograph of the product, its organoleptic characteristics, the variety o varieties from which it is produced, the olive grove’s geographic location, its marketable volume, its packaging and the producer’s contact details (the company’s website, headquarters, email and telephone). In addition, every sheet will include further information shown as icons regarding its certifications of quality or organic character, among others.
With the aim of having the EVOOLEUM Guide reach all those end consumers interested in the quality of extra virgin olive oil, it will be available at bookstores, department stores and specialized outlets, as well as in the Horeca channel.
Moreover, Mercacei and AEMO will distribute and promote the Guide at all the forums, competitions and national and international fairs in which both entities participate, especially those gastronomic and commercial events where the olive oil sector has a special impact. In the digital realm, the Guide will be available on the competition’s website as well as on Mercacei and AEMO’s webpages, without forgetting promotion through different social media, where both organizations have a massive presence.