Thursday 17th February: The World Gourmet Summit (WGS) is delighted to announce the short listed nominations for the Awards of Excellence (AOE) 2005.

Inspired by the Michelin in France and the James Beard in the USA, the event which is organised by Singapore Tourist Board (STB) and Peter Knipp Holdings (PKH), in association with Temasek Polytechnic, the AOE serves to recognize and pay homage to the professionals and talents who have excelled and contributed to the food and beverage industry in Singapore and the region, though their distinction in providing world class dining experiences.

As a result of winning one of prestigious AOE's, this year's short listed have the chance to follow in the footsteps of the Chef of the Year 2004, Justin Quek, a home grown chef with international standing, who has gone onto set up his own successful restaurant La Petit Cuisine in Taiwan or Sam Leong, who has thrice won Asian Ethnic Chef of the Year, who's strengthened reputation both home and exposure overseas has lead him to publish his own cookbook 'A Wok Through Time'.

The short listed who have made it to this stage, have already been through a rigorous selection process. At the beginning over 100 professionals and leading establishments were in the running for the 16 awards. An initial 250 independent jury members are put through a stringent nomination process after which they select the five highest scoring finalists to go forward to the second stage. During the second round a selected panel of 100 jurors reduces five short listed to three. The final round involves 50 jurors, who will further evaluate the top three finalists and an appointed auditor; Robert Tan & Co will verify the final results for the awards.