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Final stretch of the EVOOLEUM Awards 2019: These are the reasons to sign up

Final stretch of the EVOOLEUM Awards 2019: These are the reasons to sign up

EVOOLEUM Awards bursted four years ago with great strength in the international scene supported, among other reasons, by its extreme rigor and the spectacular Tasting Panel that constituted its Jury. After the consolidation of the third edition, and less than two weeks away from the end of the registration period, we speak about the fourth edition of this unique contest in the world with its two great architects: José María Penco, Director of the Competition and Juan A. Peñamil, Editor of the Guide.

The final stretch to register for the fourth edition of EVOOLEUM AWARDS, the International Contest for the Quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oils, sponsored by AEMO and Mercacei, is approaching. What is the balance of the previous editions of the contest?
Juan A. Peñamil: The balance is simply spectacular. In just three editions we have managed to position EVOOLEUM as the "Best Private Contest in the World", as reflected in the internationally recognized World's Best Olive Oils ranking and as the "Most Prestigious Guide in the World" according to the influential Italian media Olio Officina Magazine. In the previous edition we reached more than half thousand EVOO brands presented from 17 producing countries... we have managed to appear in the important media of our country (El País, Expansión, Cinco Días, Canal Cocina, RNE, La Vanguardia, La Razón...) and that they speak of extra virgin worldwide, being present with the EVOOLEUM Guide at the most important fairs in the world (Summer Fancy Food New York, Olio Officina Festival Milan, Foodex Tokyo, SOL Verona, Biofach Nuremberg or Madrid Fusion). This is not done by any other competition or any guide worldwide.

The producers that appear in our TOP100 have an unprecedented international projection, not only through the Guide, but with the EVOOLEUM app, which has achieved more than 68,000 downloads only in the last edition, and has received the Anuaria Award for "Best App". Importers, distributors, sommeliers, chefs and consumers from all over the world access it and use it as an indispensable tool to appreciate all the details about the best EVOOs.

How is EVOOLEUM different from other Competitions and what are its main characteristics?
José Mª Penco: We think that EVOOLEUM is more than a contest, it is an integral project that develops during each campaign. The onset is
the objective assessment of all the samples registered, based on the guarantee of origin and the best possible jury, but just after, once the 100 best extra virgins are selected, the real journey begins as we describe them exhaustively and publish them in a Guide that has already become a manual of obligatory consultation between experts, gastronomes, importers and consumers in general, not only from Spain, but from the entire planet. EVOOLEUM was born with the vocation to be a reference and, now in this fourth edition, we can say that it is, without any doubt, a reference.

Juan A. Peñamil: To begin with, EVOOLEUM is organized by the most experienced experts in the sector and by the most important olive oil publishing group in the world. We were the first to conceive an international competition of the 100 best EVOOs in the world, to edit a printed guide with the winners and to launch a free app with all its contents. Of course, everything in Spanish and English!

As I said before, it is the most complete contest that exists. With each inscription, the producer competes in an International Competition for the Quality of EVOO, as well as in an International Competition for Best Packaging -something in which we were pioneers-. If they also win, their brand appears in the EVOOLEUM Guide and in the EVOOLEUM app, through an information sheet in which we value the company, the landscape or the peculiarities of the extra virgin, while highlighting its organoleptic characteristics and the foods with which it better pairs.

It is, after all, an instrument aimed at highlighting the effort and work of producers in obtaining quality EVOOs, since from Mercacei and AEMO we are convinced that the future of the sector goes through the betting for quality and excellence.

In addition, I would like to outline once again something very important: EVOOLEUM does not obey a purely monetary or economic issue; the best proof of this is that the registration period lasts less than two months, unlike many other contests that extend it up to half a year; we edit an app in Spanish and English which is free and we send -also for free- directly 6,000 copies to importers, chefs and gourmet stores worldwide.

Any novelties in this edition?
José Mª Penco: The process of receiving samples, notary encryption, organoleptic assessment and presentation of results will be the same because it has worked perfectly, and because it has proven to be the most efficient in termns of objectivity and guarantee. As a result, we have the highest rating in the ranking of international competitions.

For its part in the presentation of the results, through the EVOOLEUM Guide, we will include important novelties with the contributions of different authors who will show in their articles the universe of extra virgin from different prisms, where this year the environmental component of the production of EVOO will have special relevance. Because, in addition to producing, it must be done in a sustainable way and the vast majority of high-end oils do it so.

Juan A. Peñamil: One of the most outstanding novelties is the celebration of the EVOOLEUM Best of Class Awards Gala. On January 21 we celebrated in Madrid the act corresponding to the 2018 edition, presented by the journalist Cristina Villanueva, and attended by producers from around the world, gastronomic journalists, sommeliers and chefs.

In this next edition we want to celebrate a larger event in which, besides the most international chefs and journalists, the most important importers and distributors in the world will attend.

Why should a company or producer of extra virgin olive oil present their samples to this fourth edition of the EVOOLEUM AWARDS?
José Mª Penco: In our opinion, any international producer of high quality extra virgin olive oil must propose as a goal and aspiration for every campaign to appear in the EVOOLEUM's TOP100. This must be the case because, as I have pointed out before, it has become a credible and 100% reliable selection, since it is supported by a unique assessment process and with all the guarantees. If we add to this the great effort of post-contest communication that accompanies the project throughout the year, there is nothing more to be said.

Published in English and Spanish by Mercacei and annually, what is the international distribution of the EVOOLEUM Guide and what are the actions undertaken to promote and/or disseminate it? In which events and fairs is this publication present?
Juan A. Peñamil: As I have commented before, in addition to its distribution in points of sale, Amazon or through www.evooleum.com, the EVOOLEUM Guide is directly sent to 2,000 restaurants with Michelin stars and belonging to The World's 50 Best Restaurants, gourmet shops and resorts from around the world and to the most international importers and distributors of EVOO.

Likewise, we can say that the EVOOLEUM Guide is the only one in the world present in all the gourmet events that take place throughout the year. We have our own booth at the most important fairs worldwide, from which we distribute this publication and we inform the producers present in it.

All the award-winning producers use our Guide as an element of promotion and the most reputed coaches and consultants of EVOO use it also for their tastings and demonstrations all over the world.

In addition, the Contest and the EVOOLEUM Guide have recently been protagonists of the largest communication campaign in the history of the olive sector...
Juan A. Peñamil: Yes, we are very pleased with the spectacular numbers achieved with the communication campaign we have carried out with the EVOOLEUM Guide 2019.

We have appeared in more than a hundred media -written and online, as well as radio stations- nationally and internationally, with a value or advertising impact of around 478,000 euros, 84 million views and more than eight millions of listeners. We have carried out tastings of our TOP10 EVOOs on the most listened radio stations in our country and the most widely read media have written articles on the Best EVOOs in the world according to the EVOOLEUM Awards. In fact, several producers confessed to us that they sold all of this year's production after the recent publication of two articles that reviewed the Guide -illustrated by the TOP10's EVOO photographs- in the economic journals Expansión and Cinco Días.

Never a contest or a publication related to extra virgin olive oil had reached such figures. Our goal is to overcome it in the next edition of 2020 in order to offer all the producers of the TOP100 the widest possible diffusion.

The registration period for the Contest expires on February 27. What are the forecasts in this final stretch?
José Mª Penco: The pace of enrollment is really good, we can't ignore that we are passing through a difficult year especially outside Spain where production has declined and where there have been phytosanitary problems that have made high quality less frequent at times. In any case we continue to grow, the main Spanish oils believe in EVOOLEUM, Italy continues to give us their confidence and many other countries are presenting their samples. This year we even have oils from Japan, which gives an idea of ​​the international character of EVOOLEUM.