Woo hoo! The results are finally in! I know firsthand what a grueling experience the judging process was, as I had the privilege (?!) of scouring 40 super-qualified portfolios, along with 11 other judges, to make the final determinations. What a challenge that was!
The judges' individual rankings in 10 categories were filed about a month ago, and then tallied by the folks at Cake Masters, leading to the awards announcements made last night at the 2017 Cake Masters Magazine Awards in Birmingham, England.
You can see the full array of winners, in all categories (including some we did not judge like Best Cake Show, Best Product, Cake Hero, etc.), on the Cake Masters Facebook page, here. But I wanted to specially acknowledge two Cookie Connection members for their victories; they were so well deserved, as anyone knows from seeing their work.
First, the winner of the Cookie category is our past site contributor, @Dolce Sentire - Aixa Zunino, aka Aixa Zunino! Woo hoo! She had some amazing 3-D cookie portraits and nature scenes in the portfolio that she submitted for evaluation. I hope she shares more of those cookies here! (Hint! Hint! 
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And, in the Royal Icing category, the winner is @Anikó Vargáné Orbán! In addition to gorgeous cookies (some of which you can find in her portfolio here on Cookie Connection), Anikó included a towering royal icing castle and several elaborately decorated cakes in her striking portfolio.
Again, congratulations, ladies. Your work is truly world-class! Congrats also to the finalists in each of these categories, and all of the others. I often liken the judging process to splitting hairs, because each and every finalist is a stand-out!
Stay tuned as well for the announcement of the Cookie Connection annual Cookiers' Choice Awards. Nominations will open soon, with some changes in our categories.
