Honey, Beeswax, Mead Competition

2025 HONEY, BEESWAX, & MEAD COMPETITION

DATE: Friday October 31, 2025

TIME: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM

LOCATION: Royal Ballroom

JUDGES: TBD

Competition Information

Entry Deadline: Monday October 6, 2025

Entry Fees: $6.00 per entry

Exhibit Arrival Time: Tuesday October 21, 2025 to Wednesday October 29, 2025. Office hours are 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM, except Saturday and Sunday 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM.

Entry Delivery Address:

Agriculture Show Office, Royal Agricultural Winter Fair
39 Manitoba Drive (Use Door #33 for drop offs), Exhibiton Place
Toronto, ON, M6K 3C3

2024 Royal Honey Committee

Honorary Committee: Doug McRory, Henry Hiemstra, Ed Marsden, John Van Alten

Affiliated Members: Alberta Beekeepers' Association, B.C. Honey Producers Association, Canadian Honey Council, La Federation des Apiculteurs du Quebec, Manitoba Beekeepers' Association, Maritime Beekeepers' Association, Newfoundland & Labrador Dept. of Natural Resources, Nova Scoita Beekeepers' Association, Ontario Beekeepers' Association, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs, PEI Beekeepers' Co-Operative, Saskatchewan Beekeepers' Association

Thank you to Ontario Beekeepers' Association for their support of The Royal Honey Competition:

RAWF food competition champions (Honey, Maple, Butter Tarts, Cheese & Butter, Ice Cream, Ready To Eat Meats, Jams, Jellies, and Pickles) will be invited to The Fair for the opportunity to sample and sell their product to the general public - please note this is restricted to producers who use a commercial kitchen to prepare their products. The RAWF Show Office will contact champions with further information on the Showcase.

We look forward to crowning this year's Royal Champions!

RULES AND REGULATIONS:

1. Entries must be made via AssistExpo, RAWF's online entry system. Please email entry@royalfair.org if you would like a paper entry form or call (416) 263-3418. After the entry closing date, the RAWF will send the exhibitor a confirmation letter outlining their entries as well as labels for their products. These labels will contain the Section #, class #, and ID# for each entry. Please match your entries with the labels and place these labels on the BOTTOM of the appropriate jars. No other labels will be permitted.
2. ALL exhibits, whether shipped (prepaid) or delivered in person, must arrive at the RAWF between the entry delivery dates listed above. Please ensure you provide your courier with the office hours above when scheduling your shipment.
3. Exhibitors must label their packages with their name and exhibitor number. To avoid breakage, exhibitors are requested to pack exhibits with padding. If you are hand delivering your entries, please call the Show Office at (416) 263-3418 upon arrival. Please ensure your name, exhibitor number and address are on the outside of your shipping box.
4. Exhibitors of honey and beeswax products must be bona fide beekeepers and the exhibits shown by them must be pure honey from floral sources in their apiaries.
5. Not more than one entry per class will be accepted from an exhibitor.
6. Honey products will be judged in accordance with the scale of points indicated in each section. The decision of the judges shall be final.
7. In classes for liquid and granulated honey, an exhibit shall consist of three (3) 500 gram (375 ml) jars. If an exhibit arrives at the RAWF with one of the three jars broken, the remaining two jars will be judged as an exhibit. An exhibit that consists of only two jars shipped will be disqualified from judging. Any such exhibits delivered in containers that do not conform to these specifications will be declared ineligible for showing. *Note: American exhibitors may submit their entries in one pound Queenline jars. Three jars must be submitted for judging.
   For more information regarding Canadian jar standards, please contact:
   Ontario Beekeepers’ Association
   Email: info@ontariobee.com
   Web: www.ontariobee.com
8. Honey entries entered in the wrong colour class will be docked 5 points (as per the scoring schedule). The entry will be transferred to the proper class if the exhibitor does not have an existing entry in that class. Honey colour will be determined using a honey classifier approved by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The judges are empowered to declare any product of inferior quality to be ineligible for placing.
9. All classes of comb honey (including round) must be packaged either in individual clear plastic wrappings or in individual cardboard cartons with cellophane windows. Comb honey must be produced in the hive and must contain pure honey. Cut comb honey should be well drained and must be packed in individual plastic or aluminum containers, or window front cardboard.
10. Mead classes: Three bottles must be submitted for judging. Ingredients should be listed on the entry form.
11. It is a condition of entry that all honey products entered become property of the RAWF. All remaining products will be donated to the food bank.

Points will be awarded as follows:

Points of Reference

• Uniform level of fill refers to even appearance of fill in container. The air space should not be visible when the lid is in place and the jar is standing upright.
• Flavour and aroma must be characteristic of honey within Class. Foreign flavours and aromas will be penalized.
• Entries will be penalized 5 points, to a maximum of 15, for each 1/10 of 1% moisture content in excess of 17.8 % in liquid honey classes. Honey moisture content (density) will be determined by the use of a refractometer. As per rule 8, 5 points will be deducted if entries are made within the wrong colour class and will be reclassified.
• Jar lids should be snug but not overly tight. Lids that are deemed too tight by a judge will be penalized by 1 point
• Ties will be broken on colour with a differentiation in favour of lighter coloured honey in white honey classes. If a tie still exists the decision will be given to the lowest moisture content. In the case of granulated honey, ties will be broken in favour of honey with the finer texture of granulation. In the case of beeswax, lighter colour will be favoured.

MEAD CLASSES

RULES AND REGULATIONS:

1. Three bottles must be submitted for judging. Ingredients should be listed on the entry form.
2. All meads/beers should have been made by the competitor by the process of fermentation. The following classes must be accompanied by a 3"x5" card, with the competitors exhibitor # on it, describing the type of fruit used. Melomel, Cyser, Pyment, Sparkling Mead.
3. Still meads should be in clear (not frosted), colourless (not tinted), Wine bottles of approximately 750 ml capactiy. Beers should be in plain, unmarked, brown glass, 345 ml capped beer bottles. Sparking meads must be in champagne type bottles.
4. Natural cork stoppers are preferred for mead entries but screw top wine bottles or plastic corks may be used for Dry & Sweet Meads, Melomels, Cysers, or Pyments. Corks may be straight cork or flanged, and machine or hand applied. Straight corks should be seated 1/8" below the top of the bottle.
5. Entries must not have any indentifying labels / markings on the bottle. Mead bottles should be filled so that when the cork is pushed right home, the air space is between 3/4" & 1" in depth. Sparking meads should have an air space of 1" to 1-1/4". Beer bottles should be filled so that the air space is between 1" and 3/4" below the cap.

Points will be awarded as follows:

Specials