Become a Good Taste Awards Assessor

You may be suitable for the consumer-side track if you:

• can realistically consume one or more food or drink categories;
• can understand and answer the Overall Liking question;
• can respond independently before discussion;
• can follow blind and confidentiality requirements;
• will declare conflicts and temporary sensory conditions honestly;
• can accept that another person may experience the same product differently.

You do not need a professional food title. You will not be trained to copy an expert answer.

A food enthusiast meets the consumer-side basis and can also describe sensory experience with useful discipline. This might come from sustained interest, tasting practice, cooking, study or engagement with a category.

The subtype remains part of the consumer side. It does not give an extra vote or professional confirmation authority.

Professional candidates provide verifiable experience relevant to one or more categories or assessment duties. Suitable backgrounds may include food production, culinary practice, beverages, buying, retail, hospitality, food writing, sensory work and category specialization.

Qualification considers relevance, length and nature of experience, blind discipline, descriptive competence, consistency and confirmation conduct. A job title or public profile alone is not sufficient.

Qualifying for the pool does not make a person suitable for every product. Assignment considers consumption possibility, familiarity or permitted unfamiliarity, use context, restrictions, conflicts, temporary fitness, repeated exposure, workload and order balance.

You may be qualified but not assigned to a particular category or session.

Candidates disclose employment, consultancy, investment, product development, close relationships, active disputes, material gifts, confidential prior access and recognizable participation relevant to assignment.

A conflict may exclude one product without excluding the person from the entire pool. A conflict discovered after response lock is recorded and reviewed rather than silently deleted.

Tell the operations team when illness, medication, smell or taste disturbance, fatigue, recent intense exposure, alcohol, attention or another condition could affect valid participation.

Stepping aside protects the evidence. It is not a failure of commitment.

Assigned assessors:

1. confirm fitness and conflicts;
2. receive only the controlled information needed for the task;
3. taste the anonymous product through the assigned serving method;
4. record and lock an independent Overall Liking response;
5. contribute sensory observations after the lock;
6. respect confidentiality and discussion discipline;
7. carry out any separately assigned confirmation duty within its limits.

Assessors do not:

• choose products or producers;
• receive gifts or direction from entrants;
• see live candidate results before completing their role;
• change a response to match the group;
• make health, safety, legal or commercial judgments as part of the star;
• publish confidential products or session information;
• promise a star;
• contact entrants about the assessment.

Application and qualification information is access controlled. Consumer-side identities and individual responses are not published as a condition of participation.

Good Taste Awards may invite a professional to authorize a public profile. Declining public visibility does not change the weight of a valid response or the person's qualification.

The secure application asks for the information needed to classify candidacy, assess relevance and identify conflicts. Provide accurate information and update it when circumstances change.

Read Assessors and Panels · Contact Good Taste Awards