Division Information

* Registration Dates & Fees * Check In & Set Up * Awards / Award Ceremony * General Competition Rules * Category Descriptions * Judging * Tips & Best Practices * Judging * Corrections * Schedule *

Wee Ones Non Competitive	Ages 7 and below. A parent may bake the entry item, but the child must ice and decorate their own entry. Open to Novelty Cakes, Decorated Cookie, Decorated Cupcake and Gingerbread categories only.
Junior Non Competitive	Ages 8 to 12. A parent may bake the entry item, but the junior must ice and decorate their own entry. Open to Novelty Cakes, Decorated Cookie, Decorated Cupcake and Gingerbread categories only.
Junior Judged	Ages 8-12. Each Junior must bake, ice, and decorate their own entry. Open to all categories.
Teen Judged	Ages 13 – 17. Each Teen must bake, ice, and decorate their own entry. Open to all categories.
Beginner Judged	2 years or less decorating experience; self-taught or less than 30 hours of cake decorating or sugar art instruction – including online courses. Open to all categories.
Culinary Student Judged	Be currently enrolled in a culinary program. Open to all categories.
Intermediate Judged	Developing Skills. 2-4 decorating experience; 30 - 60 hours of cake decorating or sugar art instruction – including online courses. Open to all categories.
Advanced Judged	More refined skills. 4 – 6 years decorating experience; 60 – 90 + hours of cake decorating or sugar art instruction – including online courses. Open to all categories.
Professional Judged	High level of skill. More than 90 hours of decorating or sugar art instruction, including online courses. May be an author, instructor, or decorating for profit or work in a sugar art business. Open to all categories.

DIVISIONS AND STYLES

Entries are classified by Division (the experience/skill level of the entrant) and Category (structure and style). See Grid Above.
Competitors may enter only one Division and one entry in whichever category as they choose.
Review the Division description and choose the Division that most closely matches your skill level. It is the responsibility of the entrant to accurately and fairly place themselves in a Division. Consideration should be given to other applicable skills; for example, a competitor with an art degree who has worked with clay sculptures for 5 years should be entering in the Advanced or higher Division even if they have only been working with cake and edible media for a short time. Your Division applies to all categories, so if you are an instructor in one area, (i.e., you teach piping techniques, but you rarely do figure modeling), you are in Professional/Masters for all Categories even if you haven’t done much in those other styles. Competitors are expected to choose their Division based on honest self-assessment and not by where they think they can win.
Entrants must move to the next higher Division once they have won first place in any Category in their Division for 2 consecutive years or if they won Best of their Division or Best of Show.
Entrants who compete in other similar competitions should be competing in an equivalent Division, and in no case can enter this competition in a lower Division.

WEE ONES AND JUNIOR ENTRIES

Wee Ones: ages 7 and under.
Junior: ages 8 through 12.
Ages for the Wee Ones and Junior Divisions are based on the age the child will be at the time of the show, not at the time of registration.
An adult can help bake the entries for a Wee One or Non-Judged Junior competitor, however the Wee One or Non-Judged Junior must then complete decorating the entry themselves.
To encourage young decorators, all entrants will be recognized with a certificate at the awards ceremony. Judge’s critique forms are not completed for Wee Ones or Non-Judged Junior entries.
Wee Ones and Non-Judged Junior entries don’t have size requirements other than fitting into the allotted space. These entries aren’t judged, and we encourage very open and free expression, so don’t worry about proper stacking, filling, other than what the Wee Ones or Non-Judged Junior wants to do themselves.
For more experienced Junior decorators who would like to compete in the competition, please register as a “Judged” Junior, competitors will receive judges’ comments and will be eligible for 1st, 2nd and 3rd, divisional and category awards.

Check in will take place at Contra Costa College, 2600 Mission Bell Dr, San Pablo, CA 94806
Fireside Hall, near the Culinary Building. See Map for assistance