Calling All Big Kids And Dreamers: WCF’s Chocolate Dreams Returns For 2024

Wellington, 5 July 2024 - If you’ve ever dreamt of being Willy Wonka for a day and creating your own chocolate bar, then it’s time to let your imagination run wild as Wellington Chocolate Factory’s Chocolate Dreams returns for 2024, and this year it’s open to all ages.

Chocolate Dreams is an online competition run by Wellington Chocolate Factory (WCF), where aspiring chocolate makers create a chocolate flavour and design a wrapper for their bar. One of the biggest children’s competitions in recent years, more than 1500 kids entered the first Chocolate Dreams in 2020, with Nelson’s Sophia Evans’ Orange Moustachio bar and wrapper taking home the title.

This year, after demand from ‘big kids’ to enter in 2020, Chocolate Dreams is open to everyone, with three categories: Junior (ages 5 - 12), Teen (ages 13 - 17), and Open (ages 18 or over). Entries open today and close at 5 pm on 31 July. A short list of entrants’ flavours and wrappers will be decided by public vote in August before a panel of celebrity judges assess the finalists' entries. Category winners will be announced in September at an event at WCF, where the Supreme Winner will also be crowned.

Each category winner will win return flights to Wellington for two, accommodation for one night and tickets to some of Wellington’s most iconic attractions, along with a year’s worth of chocolate from Wellington Chocolate Factory. The Supreme Winner will win the ultimate Golden Ticket: along with their trip to the capital, they will become Willy Wonka for the day, helping make their bar at WCF and receiving 50 bars of their winning flavour to take home, with the remaining 450 sold at WCF.

Gabe Davidson, co-founder of Wellington Chocolate Factory and returning co-head judge for 2024, says by opening Chocolate Dreams up to everyone, there’s no limit to what can be created.

“We were blown away by how creative the kids were in 2020, which inspired plenty of adults and parents who also wanted to design their chocolate bar - who doesn’t want to fulfil their ultimate childhood dream? We’re all big kids inside so I’m really excited to see what our aspiring chocolate makers come up with,” he says.

Wētā Workshop is a primary sponsor of Chocolate Dreams 2024, and CEO Tania Rodger will join Gabe Davidson as co-head judge. She says that as a big fan of WCF, she can’t wait to see what creations are dreamed up.

"Creativity has been at the heart of what we do at Wētā Workshop for more than 30 years, and it's fantastic to support this delicious initiative that encourages creative thinking for young people in such a fun, engaging way,” she says.

When creating a flavour and designing the wrapper, Davidson advises aspiring chocolate makers to use their absolute favourite chocolate bar as inspiration.

“Once you’ve decided what you'd like to include in your chocolate bar, close your eyes and imagine biting into your creation; taste each delicious flavour as you chew the imaginary chocolate and think, ‘Is this what chocolate dreams are made of?',” says Gabe Davidson.

“While creating your artwork for the wrapper, it helps to look to the flavours in the bar for inspiration. We love it if the wrapper tells a story about what to expect inside. The artwork story doesn't need to be limited to the flavours if you have different great ideas for it, just so long as it's engaging, fun, and creative”.

Chocolate Dreams 2024 has been made possible by the generous support of Wētā Workshop, Wellington Cable Car, Zealandia, Space Place and Te Papa.

About Wellington Chocolate Factory

Small but mighty with a dream of creating a better-tasting world, Wellington Chocolate Factory makes some of the world’s highest-quality, ethical chocolate, guaranteed to take you on a taste adventure from the first bite. Working to ensure a sweeter future for those growing their amazing cocoa beans, they are New Zealand’s original bean-to-bar chocolate maker. Based in Eva Street Wellington, they offer tours choc-full of chocolate goodness and the chance to watch the bean-to-bar magic happen at their delicious factory.

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