Throughout August the Victorian town of Ballarat will be overtaken by pies, thanks to the annual 2025 Ballarat Best Pie competition.

The People’s Choice Pie will be determined by a public vote run from August 2-31, although the judges have already announced their choice.

The 2025 Grand Prize winner is Mrs Browne’s Bakes’ raspberry goldfields cookie pie at Naomi & I. The Peach & Portuguese custard pie at Lydiard General came in second with the Apple sty pie at Mondegreen Café placing third.

The Best Savoury Pie and Brilliantly Unexpected Pie awards went to Hotel Canberra’s Stables Café & Bar for their Lechon paksiw pie, while the Best Sweet Pie also went to Grand Prize winner Naomi & I.

Turret Bakehouse claimed the Best Bakery Pie for their Beef rendang pie, and the Pie with Purpose award went to The Shared Table for their Feral Pie.

The 2025 Ballarat Best Pie awards were held at the 2024 winner Itinerant Spirits and the judging panel included Peruvian-born chef Alaejandro Saravia, MasterChef Australia semi-finalist and Good Chef Bad Chef co-host Time bone, food journalist Richard Cornish, Melbourne restaurant critic and present Kara Monssen, and City of Ballarat deputy mayor Ben Taylor.

The full list of contenders includes:

• Not Your Grandma’s Pantry: Barbecue duck and pineapple tart
• Eclectic Tastes: Beef bourguignon pie
• Itinerant Spirits: Beef cheek, merlot and cheddar pithvier
• Turret Bakehouse: Beef rendang
• Hideaway: Smoked brisket bourguignon pie
• 1816 Bakehouse: Butter chicken pie
• Aunty Jacks: Chicken pilsner pie
• The Market Hotel: Classic beef and Guinness pie
• Magnolia: Confit lamb pie
• The Red Lion: Drunken pork pie
• Drive Cafe: Eggs benny pie
• Red Duck Brewery and Distillery: El quacko pie
• The George Hotel: English Porky Pie
• The Shared table: Feral Pie
• The Boatshed Restaurant: Fig, rosemary and duck pie
• Elanora: Fish pie
• Roy Hammond: Galbi-jjim and bone marrow
• Hop Temple: Goat barbacoa
• Beechworth Bakery Ballarat: Gold digger pie
• Hotel Canberra’s Stables Cafe and Bar
• Cornerstone Cafe: Lion’s mane osso buco
• Dyers Steak Stable: Mrs Stewart’s classic beef and red wine jus pie
• Saigon Allee: Pie-bo
• 321 Cafe Learmonth: Pollo enchilada
• Nolans: Pork, mushroom and vermouth pie
• Aussie Oggie Pastry Company: Prawn and scallop pie
• Provincial Ballarat: Provincial pork pie
• Grainery Lane: Smoked Waubra prime lamb pie
• Emma’s Bakery: Tram car pulled beef pie
• Tuki: Trout, sorrel and yabby pot pie
• Soverign Hill’s Hope Bakery: Whiskey and stout slow-braised beef pie

The list of sweet competitors are:

• Mondegreen Cafe: Apple sty pie
• Kilderkin Distillery: Limoncello meringue pie
• Naomi & I: Mrs Browne Bakes’ raspberry goldfields cookie pie
• Lydiard General: Peach and Portuguese custard pie
• The Spanish Grill at Mercure Ballarat: Queso-mango cremoso pie