Egg Farmers of Ontario Butter Tart Contest Rules and Conditions

Thanks for your interest. The 2023 Registration for the Egg Farmers of Ontario Butter Tart Contest has closed May 26 at 4pm.

Important Information for Bakers:

All entries, regardless of division, must be baked in a certified kitchen. This means home/amateur bakers cannot bake their tarts in their home kitchen unless it is certified by their local health unit.

We serve the contest butter tarts to our judges and the public and we need to follow guidelines set out by the health unit.

If you are a home/amateur baker you can contact your local health unit for a list of certified kitchens in your area.

When tarts are delivered, bakers must provide proof (approved certificate from health unit) that their entry/entries were baked in a certified kitchen.

Important Dates:

Contest date is June 10, 2023 and the decision of our judges is final.
The contest opened for entry in March.
The entry deadline for the contest was May 26, 2023 at 4 p.m.
Butter tarts for the contest must be delivered in person to the Midland Cultural Centre, 333 King Street, Midland (use the Elizabeth Street entrance) on Friday, June 9 between 3 and 7 p.m. Exceptions will only be granted at the discretion of the festival organizer and the deadline for an exception was May 26, 2023. Requests for exceptions will not be considered after this date.
The contest will be held in Rotary Hall, Midland Cultural Centre. The Traditional division will be judged between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. and the Wild Style division will be judged between 1 and 3 p.m. Best in Show will be judged starting at 3:15 p.m. and the winners announced at 3:30 p.m.

How Bakers are Placed:

Professional bakers: Your baking skills pay the bills. Whether you work in a bakery or not, you make money from making tasty things.

Amateur/home bakers: You bake for fun or for love. You’ve got the skills, but aren’t professionally trained and you don’t make money from selling your baking.

2023 Categories and Divisions:

Our two categories:

Traditional: We probably have the same ideas that come to mind when we think of a Traditional Butter Tart…plain, maple, walnut, pecan, raisin, and coconut.

Wild Style: It’s still a butter tart, but you’ve added a twist with a non-traditional ingredient or two

Our two divisions:

Traditional Butter Tart – Professional and Amateur/home bakers

Wild Style Butter Tart – Professional and Amateur/home bakers

1.The Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Contest is open to any individual who has reached the age of majority (18). Applicants must be residents of Ontario or businesses operating in the province of Ontario.

2. Tarts must be made by the person/business listed on the application. All tarts, including those baked by amateur/home bakers, must be baked in a certified kitchen.

3. Entry applications were to be accompanied by the entry fee and were only accepted online. Hand-delivered or mailed applications will not be accepted.

4. The entry fee is $25 per category, with a limit of one entry per baker per category.

5. Each entry will be assigned a number, thus enabling a “blind” judging. No judge or contestant will be privy to assigned numbers during the contest. Contestants who attempt to learn their assigned number(s) will be asked to leave, forfeiting their entry and entry fee. Entries identified will be disqualified and the entry fee will be forfeited.

6. In the interest of preserving contestant entry anonymity, no contestant shall enter the backstage area where butter tarts are sorted and where judge’s scores are tallied. No contestant shall linger by the doors to the back entrance of Rotary Hall, or by the contestant registration table.

7. Entries will be disqualified for the following reasons, and at the sole discretion of the festival staff and judging panel:

Branding or identification on butter tarts
Indication that tarts submitted have not been prepared by the entrant whose name appears on the application
Not providing proof that tarts were baked in a certified kitchen
Tarts are not regular size (no mini or bite-size)
Tarts that are not delivered to the contest by an adult
Fewer than the specified number of tart submitted
Incomplete contest entry form or unpaid entry fee

8. Butter tarts will be evaluated by two panels of 12 judges on Saturday, June 10, 2023 in Rotary Hall, Midland Cultural Centre. Traditional tarts will be judged starting at 10 a.m. and Wild Style tarts will be judged starting at 1 p.m. The Best in Show tart will be determined by a panel of 3 judges starting at 3:15 p.m.

9. Evaluation will be determined based on a pre-determined written judging criteria. Two first, second and third place winners will be selected from both divisions – one set from each the professional and amateur/home bakers. The decision of our judges, including the Best in Show judges, is final.

10. Prizes will be awarded as follows:

Traditional – Amateur/home bakers 1st - $500, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $100
Traditional – Professional bakers 1st - $500, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $100
Wild Style – Amateur/home bakers 1st - $500, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $100
Wild Style – Professional bakers 1st - $500, 2nd - $250, 3rd - $100
Best in Show (selected from 1st place finishers in above four divisions and categories) - $500

11. No contestants shall sell their tarts inside the Midland Cultural Centre. A select number of contest tarts will be pre-cut and shared with those in the audience.

12. Entrants unconditionally grant the Town of Midland the rights to all image media of their entry and of the accompanying adults in whole or in part, for any advertising or promotional purposes whatsoever in any and all types of media. The entrant’s name will be included whenever it is used.

13. Entries should be delivered in disposable containers. Please do not submit your entries in anything other than a disposable container as we will not be responsible for returning any Tupperware, service trays, muffin tins, etc. Please have your entry packed and ready for submission prior to your arrival at the Midland Cultural Centre. The baker’s name (and bakery name, if professional) and type of tart should be written on the container.

14. Entrants must deliver 42 of the same butter tart per category entered. Some of the tarts will be eaten during the contest and some will be sold as “contest tarts” as part of the festival. The funds generated from the sale of the “contest tarts” are applied to the cost of operating the contest and festival. Contestants are not compensated for supplying these butter tarts.

15. Registration and payment must have been received at the time of registration. There will be no refund of entry fees if a registrant does not deliver their tarts on the appropriate day and/or time or cancels their participation in the contest.

16. Questions regarding the contest, contest rules or entry registration procedure may be directed to Butter Tart Festival