Entries are not ranked; each garlic Group is unique and judged according to the garlic Group characteristics.
Garlic is judged on its merit and a score is determined by assessing the following attributes:
- Flavour
- Aroma
- Condition (internal)
- Uniformity and quality (external)
Medals are awarded when scores are in the following range
- Gold 90-100 points
- Silver 82-89 Points
- Bronze 74-81 Points
At the conclusion of the Award program, all entrants will receive feedback from the judges. The feedback will help growers benchmark their garlic for following years, have an independent quality assessment of their product and develop product improvement outcomes for their next crop.
Penny Woodward is one of Australia’s leading garlic authorities, and this year will be providing expert garlic advice and supervising the judging of the AGIA Australian Garlic Awards.
Penny was pivotal in the formation of the original garlic awards which were hosted by the ‘Australian Food Awards’. Amongst other things, Penny Woodward is a freelance writer and photographer, the author of 8 books on edible and useful plants (including Garlic, an organic guide to knowing, growing and using) and was for 8 years the horticultural editor of the ABC Organic Gardener Magazine (retired 2022).
Penny has won 3 Horticultural Media Association (HMA) awards for her books and writing. She has a science degree in Botany and Zoology, has written numerous articles and is a regular on the radio in gardening talkback shows.
Penny is a previous Australian Garlic Industry (AGIA) board member and is a Life Member.
Read more about Penny Woodward.
Simon Toohey
Simon Toohey is a talented foodie and YouTube personality, who proved his cooking prowess to the nation on Masterchef, and more recently as the host of Freshly Picked on Channel 10 and SBS. Simon is driven by the desire to completely transform the process of food production. Sustainability is at the heart of everything Simon serves up.
Simon was widely credited with making veggies cool when he appeared on Masterchef in 2019 and again in 2020. In October of this year he launched the Geelong City Market as a weekly pop-up event. Simon also co-founded the Sustainable Earth Network (SEN) reflecting his commitment to sustainability and zero waste.
John Olliff
John chaired the AGIA for 6 years (since 2019), and previously served 5 years as Treasurer.
This year he stepped away from the AGIA Board and commercial garlic growing, but not the garlic community. John is passionate about promoting and developing the Australian garlic industry and encouraging garlic grower markets.
John has been growing organic garlic since 2010 and offers extensive expertise to the judging this year.
Trevor Gray
Trevor has judged the AGIA Awards in previous years and for several years judged garlic at the Melbourne Royal Fine Food Awards.
When an active member of the AGIA, Trevor focussed on identifying and categorising garlic cultivars, helping to build stock of several of the rare and more flavoursome cultivars and in general helping growers to improve their crops.