On November 26, apprentice hopefuls headed to the NSW TAFE Hamilton campus to compete in the NSW Excellence in Baking state round.

After a tough day in the kitchen it was Griffin Lee from Gumnut Patisserie and Tim Slats from Trappers Bakery who came out on top.

The two will now go on to compete in the national round, which will be held in Queensland next year at the Baking Industry Trade Show. There they will be joined by the Queensland state round winners Elleanor Healy and Christine Zaviglov.

As part of their prize each of the state winners will receive a free trip to the 2026 Baking Industry Trade Show, including accommodation.

The Excellence in Baking competition is a hotly contested competition year, with the national winners helping to form part of Team Australia for the ANZBAke competition.

2024 winners William Nickl and Connor Beisler helped steer the team home to win at this year’s competition. The duo worked alongside Jonny Pisanelli and Brendon Woodoward to take on Team New Zealand, defeating them for the second year running.

Connor said the Excellence in Baking competition pushed him to be the best baker he could be.

“Taking home first prize was like a dream come true after seeing my brothers before me compete in various national competitions. I felt like it was my time to get my name on a trophy,” he said.

2025 National Excellence in Baking (Pastry) winner Lewis Combes said it had been a really enjoyable experience.

“The competition was actually really fun. I would recommend it to all apprentices, because I learned so much from it.”