The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition is judged by a team of professional pie comp judges. The panel consists of industry representatives and qualified bakers/pastry cooks. Full details of judging criteria will be supplied in your Electronic Entry Kit (emailed to you after you have entered).

• All pies, sausage rolls, and pasties will be judged to the set criteria by our professional pie comp judges.
• All entries will be coded and presented anonymously to the judges.
• Judges will be looking for the best in everyday commercially produced products.
• In the Gourmet Category judges will be looking for innovation, creativity, presentation, aroma, and taste. Please remember that the judges are not just looking for a “value-added” entry.
• A minimum of four (4) pies, sausage rolls, or pasties (for each category) are to be supplied.
• All pies, sausage rolls, and pasties must be fully cooked and ready to eat. Allowances are made for entries that must be frozen for transportation purposes.
• Although there are no set weights for the competition, each entry must weigh as per a standard single-serve lunch pie or sausage roll e.g., party and family-size pies do not qualify.
• All entries will be judged hot and cold.
• Judges will provide feedback about pies, sausage rolls, and pasties.

Pie Judging Criteria

• General appearance – shape, even colour
• Size – single-serve lunch pie
• Filling – meat quality, flavour, colour, and texture
• Pastry – a visual flake (if using puff pastry), colour, eating quality
• Creativity for appearance and filling (gourmet category only).

Sausage Roll Judging Criteria

• General appearance – size (min 10cm – max 20cm), colour, and uniformity
• Filling – meat quality, flavour, colour, and texture
• Pastry – flakiness (if using puff pastry), colour, eating quality
• Creativity for appearance and filling (gourmet category only)
• Marks will be lost for filling shrinkage in sausage rolls.

Pastie Judging Criteria

• Size must be single serve
• Puff pastry must be used
• The filling must contain Beef or Lamb mince combined with a vegetable mix of at least peas, carrots, onion, and potato.
• Corn, other vegetables, and seasoning may be added for flavour.

For further information about judging the Official Great Aussie Pie Competition and our pie comp judges please contact the Aussie Pie Council.

Can you be a pie comp judge?

Our pie comp judges come from all different businesses throughout Australia including (but not limited to) NBIA, BITA, EOI, Federation Uni, and William Angliss Institute, to name a few. Many of our judges have been judging baking competitions for many years and have a long career within the baking industry. Some may see pie comp judging as a dream job where you get to eat as many pies, sausage rolls, and pasties as you like. However, our judges take their judging very seriously and follow a technique that has been developed over many years of judging. Check out the Aussie Pie Hall of Fame to read about some of our long-term judges.