The Dalemain World Marmalade Awards & Festival

We are very sorry to announce that the entire 2020 Dalemain World Marmalade Awards & Festival in Japan has been cancelled, because of the coronavirus pandemic. We were so excited to receive almost 1,300 entries from across Japan and beyond. However, following the Japanese Government’s declaration of a State Of Emergency, it was decided by the Yawatahama City Council, with deep regret, that to protect the safety of potential visitors, judges, volunteers and exhibitors, neither the marmalade judging nor the planned festival could take place this year.

We know that entrants will be bitterly disappointed, and we share their anguish and know the effort and care that goes into their entries. We want to assure anyone who entered that they will be entitled to a full refund. Organisers have spent months planning for this event and are so sad that it cannot take place, but the safety of everyone involved has to come first.

Jane Hasell-McCosh, founder of the Marmalade Awards, was due to judge at the second World Marmalade Awards in Japan. She says: ‘I want to offer my sincere condolences to the Yawatahama City Government, who have been working so hard to make this event a success. I know how disappointed they, and everyone who has entered will be. We live in extraordinary times, and it is becoming clear that so many wonderful events that we look forward to throughout the year will no longer be able to take place. I hope to return to Japan in 2021 to help judge the second Japanese Marmalade Awards then, which I am sure will be even more wonderful than the first!’

For further information about the Japanese Marmalade Awards, please visit: https://marmalade-festival.jp/en/japanesefestival-2.html

Yawatahama City is located in western Shikoku, which is an island in the southwest of Japan, approximately 4-5 hours from Tokyo by plane and train. Yawatahama is one of the leading citrus producing areas in Japan, with more than 40 varieties of citruses.