The World Food Travel Association (WFTA), the world's leading authority on food and beverage tourism, announced today that the 2017 FoodTrekking Awards for excellence in food and beverage tourism are now open.
Rather than another Top 10 or best restaurants list, the FoodTrekking Awards are unique in that they fill a void of recognition of experience excellence in 13 categories within the food and beverage tourism industry. Food and beverage is the fastest-growing sector of travel, which itself is one of the world's largest and most economically significant industries.
2017 CATEGORIES & APPLICATION PROCESS
The number of categories being recognized has grown from only 5 in 2016 to 13 categories in 2017, as follows:
1. Best Foodie Destination Experience
2. Best Food/Beverage Tour Operations (Land)
3. Best Food/Beverage Tour Operations (Water)
4. Best Beer Experience
5. Best Foodservice Experience for Visitors
6. Best Lodging Experience
7. Best Food/Beverage/Travel Media Professional
8. Best Wine Experience
9. Best Food/Beverage/Travel Blogger
10. Best Farms & Farmers' Market Experience
11. Best Retail & Grocery Experience
12. Best Cooking/Beverage Class/School
13. Best Food & Beverage Event Experience
Businesses and organizations interested in applying can do so on the Awards website at http://www.foodtrekkingawards.org/. Applications are being accepted between January 1 and February 28, 2017, when the application process will close.
2017 JUDGES & SELECTION PROCESS
Ten experts in their specific fields will serve as judges for the 2017 Awards, as follows:
 Panna Balazsy (Hungary), Owner, Globalist Kitchen
 Andre Morgenthal (South Africa), former Communications Manager, Wines of South Africa
 Roberta Garibaldi (Italy), food and wine tourism consultant and coordinator of East Lombardy -
 European Region of Gastronomy 2017
 Livio Colapinto (Italy), Owner, Zest of Italy
 Katarzyna Janiszewska (Poland), Founder, SlowLife.pl
 Armando Cristofori (Australia), member, La Chaîne de Rôtisseurs
 Udi Goldschmidt (Israel), culinary tourism consultant to Israel's tourism industry
 Brian F Lorge (USA), CCTP, HAAC (USA), Chairman, Certified Ambassador World Food Travel
 Association; Exec. Dir., American Culinary Federation (MCCA); Fellow, American Academy of Chefs & Les Amis d'Escoffier; Industry Consultant
 Lawrence Acosta (USA), Owner, Grub Crawl
 Sanjeev Shenoy (India), Mystery Shopper, HS Brands International and Owner, Trip on Food
Each judge reviews two different applicants according to established criteria in a confidential review process. In the event of a tie, a third judge will review each of the tied applications. A grand prize and a runner-up are selected for each category. A small application fee charged to each applicant helps to offset the cost of managing the awards.