As you are undoubtedly aware, this year’s Sydney Fine Food expo, together with the Bake Skills Australia Championships, were postponed due to COVID-19 lockdowns and state border closures.

The steering committee has since evaluated various options to see whether this year’s event could still be saved and/or rolled over to March 2022—the new date for Sydney’s 2021 Fine Food show.

After discussions with competitors, employers, judges and sponsors, it became clear that it simply wouldn’t be fair to competitors or logistically practical to endeavour to squeeze both the 2021 and 2022 Championships into a six-month window (with the 2022 Fine Food expo and Bake Skills Australia Championships scheduled for September in Melbourne).

Accordingly, the committee has made the difficult decision to officially cancel Bake Skills 2021, and looks forward to working with Fine Food Australia to conduct the 2022 Bake Skills Championships at the Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre in September, with this year’s finalists being offered first option to apply for 2022.

The steering committee will be meeting in November to review next year’s event and look forward to launching Bake Skills 2022—with a new production schedule and a new range of prizes—early in the New Year.