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Coinciding with the week of the 22nd extraordinary session of the IOC Council of Members, the IOC headquarters was the setting on Thursday 5 June 2014 for the ceremony to hand out the prizes for the IOC’s Mario Solinas Quality Award for extra virgin olive oils.
In his opening speech, IOC Executive Director Jean-Louis Barjol announced proposals put forward by the Executive Secretariat to the Council of Members to change the competition rules, with plans to hold two editions a year to make it easier for producers from countries in the southern hemisphere to enter oils for the competition and to hold the next award ceremony at the Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City in July 2015.
The next day, the IOC Council of Members formally agreed to these proposals.
Mercedes Fernández, the Head of the Technical and Chemistry & Standardisation Units at the IOC Executive Secretariat told the audience that 138 extra virgin olive oils from 12 countries had entered for this 14th edition of the Quality Award. Eight finalists in each competition category (intense green fruitiness, medium green fruitiness, mild green fruitiness and ripe fruitiness) went on to be selected by an international panel of judges. The winners of the first, second and third prize in each category were presented with a medal and diploma and are allowed to use the competition logo on the bottles of their prize-winning oil.
The ceremony was closed by the IOC Chairman for the 2014/15 crop year, Neşet Akkoc from Turkey.
