We entered the 2026 NZ Artisan Awards not knowing quite what to expect. We make chocolate because we love it — because we care deeply about the ingredients, the process and the people who eventually unwrap what we've made. Awards are not why we do it.
But when the results came in, we were genuinely thrilled. Eleven medals. Six Golds.
Across bonbons, tablets, marshmallows, collections and our brand new Chocolate Fancies, the judges recognised work from almost every corner of our range. That breadth means more to us than any single medal. It tells us that what we believe about ingredients and craft is showing up in what people actually taste.
We don't cut corners. We never have. And we think that's why these chocolates taste the way they do.
The Gold Medals, and the stories behind them
🥇 Orange Cardamon Bonbon - Orchard Amble collection
We don't use commercial purees. Ever. For this bonbon, we take whole spray-free oranges; skin, seeds, juice and all, slow-cook the entire fruit down and strain off the liquid ourselves. What you taste is the whole orange, not a processed approximation of it. Paired with aromatic cardamon, the result is bright, complex and completely alive.
🥇 Rhubarb Custard Bonbon - Granny's Kitchen collection
The same philosophy applies to the rhubarb, whole stalk harvested from our garden and then blended down into a puree for use in the gel. The Advocaat custard ganache is made with a 36% white chocolate from a Swiss brand that won the 2025 prestigious Swiss Ethics Award and infused with Dutch Advocaat liqueur. Creamy, tart, and deeply satisfying.
🥇 Roasted Hazelnut Tablet
Our hazelnuts are organically grown by a small family-run orchard in the Waikato. We roast them ourselves, hand de-skin every nut to avoid bitterness, and grind them slowly in our stone melanger into a silky gianduja. Nothing added. Nothing taken away. Just hazelnuts and chocolate, made by a NZ craft chocolatier from single origin Vanuatu beans.
🥇 Spiced Gingerbread Tablet
One of our originals. The spices are certified organic: Ginger, Cloves and certified Ceylon Cinnamon, no Cassis in site. The Ceylon Cinnamon is softer, more aromatic and fragrant. The result is warm, complex and deeply spiced in a way that makes most gingerbread taste flat by comparison.
🥇 Spirit of Cardrona collection
This collection was designed to capture the extraordinary craftsmanship of Cardrona Distillery- a distillery that was originally set up as a rose distillery, which I always wanted to visit given my background in organic essential oils. That connection felt deeply personal. Eight bonbons, each one inspired by a Cardrona cocktail, made with their actual spirits. Their craft inspired ours.
🥇 The Peanut Chocolate Fancy
Fresh Comoros Islands vanilla beans, purchased from a small grower. Hand harvested Opito Bay salt. Organic roasted peanuts. A deep amber salted caramel. Vanuatu 72% dark chocolate. Every element chosen with intention, every layer made in our kitchen. This was our first Chocolate Fancy to win Gold and we couldn't be prouder of it.
The Silver Medals
🥈 Spice Drawer collection
We designed this collection to take you on a journey through every spice in our drawer. The Banana Pancakes bonbon is an ode to Will's favourite brunch; roasted bananas infused with organic cinnamon leaf essential oil, liquid maple smoke and maple syrup. The Balsamic Plums is our son's favourite bonbon; barrel-aged Italian balsamic with whole NZ-grown Hawera and Omega plums. Every bonbon in this collection has a story. This silver feels like recognition of the whole.
🥈 The Boysenberry Chocolate Fancy
Will's uncle ran a boysenberry farm so every Christmas, picking boysenberries was a family tradition, one boysenberry for the bucket, one for the mouth. We use whole boysenberries from Nelson, processed in our kitchen, never a commercial puree. This Fancy is a nod to that childhood and to the extraordinary flavour of a properly grown NZ boysenberry. Deep, fruity and quietly intense.
🥈 Tonka Bean Bonbon
This is probably my favourite bonbon we make. Real tonka beans, slowly infused into a deep amber caramel, finished with Opito Bay salt. Silky, warm, exotic and a little bit hypnotic. The tonka bean is one of those ingredients that people taste and immediately ask "what is that?" - and we love that question.
The Bronze Medals
🥉 Chocolate Lamington Marshmallow
One of our favourite treats growing up was the lamington; simple, classic, completely delicious. These marshmallows are dipped in a craft 72% dark chocolate made by a local NZ chocolatier and then rolled in organic coconut. Our version of a childhood classic, made with the same care we put into everything else.
🥉 Lime Coconut Marshmallow
Refreshing and zingy - we use whole limes from our own orchard, dip them in our housemade 35% white chocolate, and roll them in organic coconut. Bright, tropical and genuinely moreish.
Why these chocolates taste the way they do
Throughout our entire range, we use organic golden sugar rather than white. It's less processed, which means larger crystals, meaning the sugar takes long to melt down - but the flavour developed during this low and slow process, becomes richer, deeper and more complex as a result. Our cream and butter is always fresh, never UHT. Our spices are certified organic. Our fruit is whole and processed in our kitchen.
Shop our award-winning range at prettyfancychocolate.com