Three homegrown Indian chocolate brands have won big at the prestigious Academy Of Chocolate Awards UK 2024. The results, which came out earlier this week, announced 17 accolades in total for Indian chocolate products. The brands that won were Paul and Mike, Bon Fiction and Manam Chocolate. Paul and Mike is based in Kerala, Bon Fiction in Andhra Pradesh and Manam Chocolate in Hyderabad. The three brands work to champion Indian cacao in various ways and have won several awards on the global stage in the past too. Find out which specific creations won recognition below:
Which Indian Chocolates Were Awarded This Year?
At the Academy Of Chocolate Awards UK 2024, Paul and Mike won silver for its ‘Brunost Cheese Fine Milk Chocolate’ and bronze for ‘Rum & Rummy Raisins Mild Dark Chocolate.’ Bon Fiction won four accolades: a gold for ‘A Rose in Pistachio Skies,’ silver for its ‘7 Assorted Bars Gift Pack,’ and bronze for its ‘82% Dark Drinking Chocolate’ and ‘The Mango Menace.’
Manam Chocolate won three silver awards for its ‘Chocolate Lab Tablet No. 2 – Pedda Rasalu Mango’, ‘Chocolate Lab Tablet No. 3 – Chakkarakeli Banana’, and ‘Indian Origin Tablet No. 6 – 66% Dark.’ It won bronze awards for eight of its chocolates, namely ‘Indian Origin Tablet No. 5 – 80% Dark’, ‘Indian Origin Tablet No. 7 – 69% Dark’, ‘Indian Origin Tablet No. 8 – 100% Dark’, ‘International Origin Tablet No. 14 – 80% Dark’, ‘Hazelnut & Cardamom Praline’, ‘Toasted Hazelnut & Cardamom Bonbon’, and ‘45% Milk Chocolate x Yuzu-Scented Caramel Ganache.’
Also Read: 11 Times Indian Food Shone Globally In 2024: A Year In Review
Manam Chocolate took to Instagram to announce the news and stated, “It’s important to reiterate that these awards don’t celebrate the triumph of a single person, but rather, they belong to everyone at Manam-the farmers, the fermenters, the chocolate-makers and the chocolatiers. It’s their ability to grow, harvest, ferment, refine and express cacao into delicious Indian Craft Chocolate, that makes this recognition possible. And together, we continue to carve a new identity for Indian chocolate on the global stage, showcasing the excellence of Indian craftsmanship.”
Earlier this year, Manam Chocolate Karkhana [a factory and experience centre] received global recognition in a different way. It was one of two Indian establishments to be named among TIME magazine’s ‘World’s Greatest Places’ for 2024 (more details here). Some time ago, Paul and Mike also made headlines when it became the first Indian brand to win a Gold at the prestigious International Chocolate Awards. It won the award for its ‘Milk Chocolate Coated Salted Capers’ (read more here).
The three brands (including Bon Fiction) also won multiple accolades at last year’s edition of the Academy Of Chocolate Awards UK. Click here to know more.
Isaac McHardie and William McKenzie won the top honour at the 2024 Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards on Friday, claiming the prestigious Orbit World Travel Sailor of the Year title as Olympic sailors dominated the major awards at the glitzy event held at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron.
The 49er team of McHardie and McKenzie were awarded the Sir Bernard Ferguson Trophy in front of over 220 attendees, recognising their stellar season, culminating in a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in August.
Their achievement marked New Zealand’s fourth medal in the men’s skiff class across as many Games, following Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s podium finishes in London, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo.
Nacra 17 teammates Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson won the Barfoot & Thompson Male and Female Sailor of the Year awards after securing bronze in the mixed multihull event in Marseille during a dramatic medal race.
McHardie, McKenzie, Wilkinson, and Dawson also received Performance Awards, alongside fellow Olympians Jo Aleh and Molly Meech (49erFX), Josh Armit and Veerle ten Have (windfoiling), and Tom Saunders (ILCA 7).
“These awards are a wonderful reward and an excellent example of Isaac, William, Micah, and Erica’s commitment, dedication, and attention to detail,” said Yachting New Zealand chief executive David Abercrombie.
“It’s encouraging to see the depth of talent emerging during the last Olympic cycle, which sets us up well for Los Angeles in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.”
Matt Steven, coach of the “McKiwis” – as McHardie and McKenzie are known – received the B&G Performance Coach of the Year award, while Wade Tresadern was recognised as Yachting New Zealand Emerging Coach of the Year.
Numerous other awards celebrated achievements from club level to the international stage. Greta Pilkington, who debuted at the Games in Marseille, was named NZL Sailing Foundation Young Female Sailor of the Year, while 420 crew Joe Leith and Josh Ferrissey claimed the Young Male Sailor of the Year title. Leith and Ferrissey won bronze at the class world championships in Brazil in January, weeks after finishing fifth at the youth sailing world championships.
Jamie Sutherland received the Millennium Hotels and Resorts Official of the Year Award, while Matteo Barker and Chloe Turner each received an Aon Emerging Talent award.
Other honours included Don Salthouse (Cruising Award), Gary Smith (Outstanding Contribution Award), Sheryl Lanigan (Sustainability Award), Flying Fifteen New Zealand (Sportsmanship Award), and James Swinney (Young Leadership Award).
Abercrombie praised the volunteers and committee members essential to the sport’s success. “The Barfoot & Thompson Yachting Excellence Awards are about more than just high-performance sailing – they’re an opportunity to acknowledge the selfless work, dedication, and resilience of our club members and volunteers,” he said. “They remain the heart of what makes sailing such a valued sport in New Zealand, and I can’t thank them enough for their contributions.”
The evening also included a special tribute to Emirates Team New Zealand’s historic three-peat at the 37th America’s Cup in Barcelona, despite the defence of the Auld Mug falling outside the eligibility period for the 2024 awards.
Ngati Whatua Orakei were honoured with an Outstanding Contribution Award by Yachting New Zealand chair Greg Knowles for their role in supporting Emirates Team New Zealand’s record-breaking campaign.
So here’s the upshot of the “bold new era” Silver Lake and an NZR board living in la-la land promised us almost three years ago. Since then …
NZR has lost almost $60 million in the past two years. Annual revenue has not increased since 2021 (which was before Silver Lake were brought in as the so-called geniuses of professional sport).
The $260m investment from the American private equity company has largely been squandered on bribes to provincial unions to persuade them to support the deal, and ill-considered digital media ventures like NZR+ are on life support.
Provincial unions now face major funding cuts with a reduction of $1.8m this year and more than $3m next year.
Professional players will be next as their 36.5% of NZR’s annual revenue takes a hit, raising the prospect of losing more stars to overseas clubs.
In the meantime, Silver Lake will start taking an annual $20m plus dividend from next year. In perpetuity.
There is no doubt Craig Fenton’s appointment as head of NZR Commercial (NZRC) was influenced by Silver Lake, who love to talk up their ability to provide governance advice (really?!!) as well as money.
Sports Insider heard varying reports on Fenton during his brief tenure. He was in equal parts described to this columnist by people who had encountered him as “super smart” but also that he had some “daft ideas”.
Clearly, Fenton and hyper-sensitive executives at NZR HQ didn’t get along, as evidenced by the press release announcing his departure.
“Craig and NZRC have agreed that Craig’s vision of change and approach to driving it are not fully aligned with the organisation,” it stated.
So does that mean the former leading Google executive hadn’t left that company’s monopolist attitude back in the UK when he shifted back to his native New Zealand?
Or does it mean over-protective NZR executives (and possibly a bunch of board directors) don’t want to face the prospect of executing the major surgery so obviously needed on the game here to prevent a terminal decline?
While all this nonsense is going down, those out battling in rugby’s heartlands watch with growing despair.
Was there ever a more poignant and passionate plea for sanity delivered than the one made by long-serving Taranaki NPC coach Neil Barnes in expressing his dismay to the Herald’s Liam Napier earlier this week?
The straight-shooting Barnes stated the obvious in his broadside at NZR, including that rugby fans have fallen in love again with the provincial championship – but the national union’s bosses don’t give a toss about that.
“In my mind, the NPC is an inconvenience to the people at the top level,” Barnes told Napier.
“When Silver Lake came along, there was funding put out there for people in the communities to grow our game and help facilitate it. Now all that funding has been taken away.”
“Our funding was cut by over $100,000 this year and they’re cutting another $250,000 off it next year. That’s on the back of [NZR boss] Mark Robinson sitting in my office, and I was challenging him over funding for our game at this level. He said there’s not a shortage of funds in New Zealand, it’s where you spend it.
“If that’s the case, it shows they don’t respect the importance of grassroots rugby.”
Barnes then pointed to the All Blacks, with 23 support staff, and All Blacks XV teams collectively sending more than 100 people to Japan and Europe this month.
Not that Silver Lake seem to care. It has been absent since day one, seemingly happy to have the All Blacks on its investment resume to impress others while largely doing nothing.
Fenton’s strategy seems to have been to simply create more teams using the All Blacks moniker and sending them on as many overseas promo trips as possible.
All of this, of course, has happened under the watch of an NZR board hopelessly out of its depth, excoriated by the Pilkington Report but with a clutch of directors grimly attempting to hold on to their blazers.
The current chair Dame Patsy Reddy has been a let-down and is not standing again. Provincial unions believe she has done them over but is still trying to influence who makes up the newly constituted board.
Several directors she has worked closely with and who helped enforce the Silver Lake deal on a suspicious rugby public are angling to keep their jobs and securing the vacant chair role.
That alone will be enough to scare worthy candidates away from nominating themselves for consideration.
The rot seems set to continue.
Does Sir Ben Ainslie need to watch his back?
Should Sir Ben Ainslie be worried about his job after failing to topple Peter Burling and Team New Zealand to win the America’s Cup?
Maybe Sir Ben should have a chat to another sporting knight in Sir Alex Ferguson, who seems to have been ostracised from Manchester United now that Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe is an influential owner of the storied English Premier League (EPL) club.
Ratcliffe, whose company is one of the world’s worst polluters (and also sponsors the All Blacks), is a renowned tight arse who has embarked on a ruthless cost-cutting exercise since buying into United last year.
The club’s popular and long-time historian has been sacked, free lunches for staff and players were cut and now Ratcliffe has come after “Fergie”, a Man United icon.
After previously banning the legendary manager from visiting the United changing rooms after matches, Ratcliffe has now cut Ferguson’s £2m ($4.4m) a year ambassador role for the club.
That prompted a savage tweet from another former United golden boy, Rio Ferdinand.
“If Sir Alex can be taken out, then NO ONE IS SAFE at @ManUtd – anyone in can get it now. Ineos sending a message to ANYONE at the club?!?”
Watch your back, Ben.
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand makes his feelings known regarding his former manager’s removal from his role at the club. Photo / Twitter @rioferdy5
Man City is a soulless club of shaggers
While on Manchester and the EPL, regular readers of Sports Insider will know this writer is no fan of United’s bitter cross-town rivals.
Now it seems the massively overpaid players themselves are adding a bunch more reasons to loathe City.
Former leading player Ben Mendy is laying bare the complete lack of morals at City during an employment tribunal process, in which he is suing the club for £11m of unpaid wages.
Mendy was sacked for alleged sexual offences but was later acquitted and is now going after the club. His argument? He says he was unfairly singled out in a squad of serial shaggers.
“Several Manchester City first-team players, including the club captain, were all present at parties that I attended and hosted. We all drank alcohol. We all had casual relations with women,” he told the tribunal.
That went down like a cup of cold sick with his former teammates and Kyle Walker, the captain. Raheem Sterling, named during the trial, has loaned Mendy the money to help clear pay his legal fees.
As for Walker, his wife filed for divorce last week, although that may have as much to do with her finding out about his mistress and their two secret love children. The mistress is now suing him.
The judgment on that sideshow is damning right down to the mistress threatening to move into a house next door to Walker and his wife if he didn’t buy her a £2m house and some £48,000 wardrobes.
His neighbour compared the affair to the film Fatal Attraction, claiming she was asked by the mistress to lean over the garden fence and record Walker’s conversations with his wife.
Like I said, it’s a classy club!
Can celebrities save us from cynicism?
Ed Sheeran’s sponsorship of newly-promoted EPL club Ipswich Town is being compared to the Ryan Reynolds–Rob McElhenney custodianship of Welsh club Wrexham, who also harbour EPL ambitions.
It raises the question of whether celebrities can save sport from shifty private equity types and ruthless owners like Ratcliffe.
We have our own little experiment about that going on Downunder with an Auckland FC ownership group that includes Ali Williams, Anna Mowbray, Steven Adams, Tim Brown, Winston Reid and Noah Hickey.
They’re off to a flyer after last Saturday and there’s no doubt the feel-good factor around the newly birthed A-League club is being helped by the big names attached to it. We will watch the rest of the season with increasing interest.
While on Auckland FC, there were shades of Joe Biden and his “Tan Blacks” gaffe when referring to the All Blacks and Ireland from our Prime Minister in the lead-up.
Christopher Luxon was a guest at the club’s pre-match function and talked up the impending all-Kiwi clash with the Wellington Phoenix, telling guests there were many great local derbies in world football including “the Rangers against the Celtics”.
We think he meant the Scottish Old Firm derby between Glasgow Rangers and Celtic.
NRL needs to show it’s serious about Christchurch
Another big league match in the Garden City, and another sellout.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s the Warriors or the Kiwis, South Islanders seemingly can’t get enough of the 13-player code.
Among the 17,000 fans packing into Apollo Stadium on Sunday to watch the Kiwis play Australia for the first time in Christchurch in 35 years will be thousands making the trek from West Coast strongholds like Greymouth – and equally as many from Dunedin.
It comes at a time when Christchurch school St Thomas picked up the national title two years running over favoured Auckland schools and when five players with South Island heritage have been included in the squad to face the Kangaroos.
Add in the Crusaders being in the doldrums and, for the first time since 1995, the South Island not holding a single rugby championship of note, and the message is starkly clear.
There has never been more momentum for a South Island franchise in the Australian club competition.
But is the National Rugby League (NRL) listening?
This column has regularly suggested the NRL is merely paying lip service to Christchurch’s two bids and doesn’t really get the opportunity here due to their Aussie blinders being permanently wedged on.
One way to demonstrate that’s not the case will be to see if Australian Rugby League chairman Peter V’landys and his NRL CEO Andrew Abdo turn up at Apollo Stadium this weekend.
Pete and Andy talk a good game about international league but their failure to actually show up for anything outside Australia is a growing talking point among some league pundits.
Both say they will be there, hopefully to witness first-hand the snowballing enthusiasm for league in the south.
Let’s see, shall we?
Team of the Week
New Zealand: Has there ever been a weekend in Kiwi sport like the last one? Will there ever be another one like it again? Celebrate New Zealand, for that was special.
Liam Lawson: Added the cherry to the top on Monday morning with a top-10 finish in his reintroduction to F1. Is that Sergio Perez’s knees we can hear knocking?
Gayle Broughton: The Olympic rugby sevens gold medallist makes her league test debut for the Kiwi Ferns against the Australian Jillaroos in Christchurch on Sunday in the crucial five-eighth role, after a stellar maiden NRLW debut season with the Brisbane Broncos.
Ruben: “My nan said to me, work a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”
With no student debt, Ruben Duggan is working in his dream job – and he has just won an Olympic medal for skills learnt training to be a plumber.
The day job sees him fitting boilers around Caerphilly county, and jokingly referred to as Super Mario by customers because of his moustache.
He now wants to inspire others to take up a trade, after returning from the WorldSkills competition – known as “the skills Olympics” to many taking part – with a silver medal.
Ruben, 22, joined 1,500 other competitors from 69 nations in Lyon, France, and is the only Welsh competitor to return with a medal.
The competition is for apprentices and students of vocational qualifications, and alongside plumbing and heating, participants display their talents in trades as diverse as carpentry, hairdressing and web design.
Ruben had always wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, adding: “I’ve always wanted to be a plumber since helping carry my dad’s toolbox when I was six years of age.
“I was shaking when they called my name, It still hasn’t sunk in that I’m the second best plumber in the world.”
Family photo
A young Ruben carries his father’s tool box – shaping his future ambitions
Ruben carried out his apprenticeship at the family plumbing company, Powerserv Limited, in Blackwood, Caerphilly county, and trained at Coleg y Cymoedd in nearby Ystrad Mynach.
He missed out on gold to China – and jokes he is holding off putting his prices up until he checks with his dad, and just wants to focus on being the best.
“I knew from a young age what I wanted to do, but in school I felt it was all about A-Levels, but that isn’t the road for everybody,” he said.
“I’m passionate about apprenticeships. It’s the best way to learn a trade and businesses need to see the rewards of training apprentices.
“I’m doing what I want to do and have no student debt and I’m earning money.”
Ruben continued: “I just hope I can inspire other people into the industry, and that will help the UK as a whole, because other countries have run away with it in recent years and it’s time for UK plumbing to come back with strength.”
Team UK picked up 16 medals in Lyon, with WorldSkills UK Chief Executive Ben Blackledge describing the impact this will have.
“For Ruben to win a silver medal is a huge achievement,” he said.
“Knowing you’re one of the best in the world is massive to what you can go on to do next.
“It’s been a real investment from the family business allowing Ruben time off to do training and competing, but they’re already seeing rewards with Ruben’s skill set and confidence levels benefitting the business.”
WorldSkills UK
Ruben installed pipe work as part of the competition
Ruben had to follow a complex set of drawings for installing pipe work to a boiler and cylinder, which had to be carefully followed, with around 150 points for the judges to mark.
“To showcase your skills on a world stage there’s nothing like it,” he said.
“After spending a week in Lyon, up against some of the best in the world and to come out second, I’ll never ever forget it for rest of my life.
“I’ve had so many customers texting me after winning the silver medal, which is great to see they appreciate my passion.”
He added: “I just love plumbing day in and day out, my nan said to me, ‘work a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life’.”
WorldSkills UK
Ruben Duggan won silver at the ‘skills Olympics’ in Lyon
Ruben and his brothers are installing a new boiler at the home of Lyn Hansford in Newbridge – she has been a customer for nearly 20 years.
“We’re really proud of Ruben, these boys are replacing a system their dad installed in 2006 when they were all little boys,” she said.
“We’re just really proud he’s doing so well.”
The 22-year-old, has not only returned from Lyon with a medal but also a moustache, and customers have been comparing him to another famous plumber.
“He does look like Super Mario though with the moustache,” Lyn joked.
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