GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARD

Ms Odette Mascarenhas author of the Book Masci The Man Behind the legend has won the prestigious ‘Special Jury Award’ of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2008.

- The book has also been short listed to compete in a glittering award ceremony for the Best in the World at the Comedie Francaise Theatre in Paris on 1st July 2009. . In total this year, books from 51 countries have reached that level of excellence. The process is more like the Olympics, with many specialized competitions for numerous countries. The award ceremony is long, as if all medal ceremonies of the Olympics were held at the same time.

Besides this award winning book which is a biography of the first Goan Executive Chef – Masci-The Man behind the legend, she has also written two books for tweens in the Alfie Alphonso series to develop their potential. Alfie Alphonso The Search for the Mystical Crystal and Alfie Alphonso The lot on the Canvas. She has a popular Food column called Gourmet’s Delight in the Zest-the magazine section of the Navhind Times.



Besides this she anchors a Food TV series, ‘A Legacy for the Tastebuds’ for Goa 365.

Odette is a Management Consultant by profession and has been in the field of training for the past 20 years. She has been associated with the Taj Group of Hotels for 18 years and has been Group Training Manager (Western Region). She is also a trained and Certified Educator through the A H & M A ( U.S.A.)

A brief about the award
1.-Unique in the Book Sector
• Free, open to all
• For books published within the year, useful for bookstores, authors, publishers.
• Over 100 countries participating, in all languages.
• The average country competes in 10 categories: as in the Olympics, one country seldom participates in all competitions.
• Many categories so that each country has a chance: 45 countries will win at least one medal, Gold, Silver, or Bronze.
• Just as in the Olympics, the media report only on winners from their own country. So there are very few winners for each country.
• Small publishers and big publishers, big and small countries all have an equal chance.
• No other sector of book publishing benefits from such an organization.

2.-For Those who Cook with Words
• Honours on one of the most prestigious stages in the world, La Comédie Française in Paris, unprecedented for books, and cookbooks.
• Huge media impact: the Gourmand Awards get over 1100 articles worldwide every year.
• Winning books get often reviewed again, reprinted, translated and distributed in foreign countries.
• At the latest London Book Fair, in April 2009, publishers said “The Gourmand Awards now drive the cookbook business”.
• The scope of the event is similar to the Olympics. The emotion of the long awards show filmed for television is similar to the Oscars.
• No other sector of book publishing benefits from such an international impact. Spread across dozens of countries, for several important books at the same time.

3.-The Winner is the Book
The “Gourmand World Cookbook Award” is given to the book. It is always the result of team work, including often the publisher, editor, art director, writer, chef, stylist, translator, photographer, printer, and others.
The focus is on the book.




For more information regarding this award please check the link below:
http://www.cookbookfair.com/html/paris_2009.html