Golden Pepper Awards Official Rules

Effective November 1, 2026 · Last updated September 28, 2026

The Golden Pepper Awards are annual recognition awards for hot sauces, specialty products and hot sauce brands, run by Lanai Group LLC dba Hot Sauce Headquarters ("HQ"). No purchase or payment is necessary to nominate, vote, enter or win. There is no entry fee. Awards carry no cash prize or prize of monetary value. Brands that enter Industry Choice pay their own shipping (Section 8). Void where prohibited. By nominating, voting, entering, being nominated, serving as a judge or accepting an award, you agree to these rules and to HQ's decisions.

1. Award year and schedule

The award year is a calendar year, January 1 to December 31. Awards for an award year are decided and announced after it ends. For example, awards announced in March 2027 cover the 2026 award year.

Every deadline in these rules ends at 11:59 PM Pacific Time on the date shown.

What	When
People's Choice nominations	November 1 – December 31 of the award year
People's Choice review and shortlist	Early January
People's Choice voting	Opens in January; closes the second Sunday in February
Industry Choice entries	November 1 – December 31 of the award year
Industry Choice bottles must be received by HQ	December 31 of the award year (late arrivals: Section 8.7)
Industry Choice tastings	January and February
Results for all three groups (People's Choice, HQ Picks, Industry Choice)	Revealed in March

HQ announces the exact dates for each year in the Service, including the date voting opens.

Results are never shown live. During nominations, review, voting, entries and tastings, HQ does not show nomination counts, vote counts, judges' scores, rankings, finalists or standings. HQ publishes the People's Choice shortlist before voting, and then, in March, the winner and runner-up of each category. Vote counts, vote percentages and judges' scores are never published. Industry Choice entrants privately receive their own score averages and judge comments (Section 11).

2. The three award groups and their categories

The Golden Pepper Awards have three groups:

People's Choice: decided by Hot Sauce HQ members, who nominate and then vote online.
HQ Picks: chosen by the HQ team.
Industry Choice (the Pepper Pros' awards): decided by a panel of industry judges chosen by HQ, through an in-person blind tasting and scoring.

2.1 People's Choice

Category	Who decides
People's Choice Award	Members' votes
Best New Sauce: launched during the award year	Members' votes
Most Innovative Flavor	Members' votes
Best Classic Hot Sauce: no heat or Scoville requirement	Members' votes
Best Super Hot Sauce: a Scoville rating of at least 100,000 (Section 2.5)	Members' votes
Best Artisan / Handcrafted: made by an Artisan brand (Section 2.6)	Members' votes
Best Specialty Product: any eligible product type other than hot sauce, such as wing sauce, BBQ sauce, salsa, hot jam or jelly, spread, dip or snack	Members' votes

2.2 HQ Picks

Category	Who decides
HQ Sauce of the Year	HQ team
HQ Specialty Product of the Year	HQ team
HQ Hidden Gem	HQ team
HQ Brand of the Year	HQ team

2.3 Industry Choice (Pepper Pros')

Category	How it is decided
Pepper Pros' Sauce of the Year	Champions tasting of the hot sauce category winners (Section 10). No separate entry.
Pepper Pros' Artisan Sauce of the Year	Blind tasting. Entries from Artisan brands only (Section 2.6).
Pepper Pros' Specialty Product of the Year	Blind tasting. Any eligible product type other than hot sauce.
Pepper Pros' Best Classic Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. No heat or Scoville requirement.
Pepper Pros' Best Super Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Scoville rating of at least 100,000 (Section 2.5).
Pepper Pros' Best Fruity Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. The sauce must be marked Fruity in the Hot Sauce HQ catalog.
Pepper Pros' Best Louisiana-Style Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style (Section 2.4).
Pepper Pros' Best Mexican-Style Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Verde (Green) Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Southwestern / New Mexico Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Caribbean / Jerk Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Asian-Style Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Peri-Peri Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best Middle Eastern / North African Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.
Pepper Pros' Best South American (Ají) Hot Sauce	Blind tasting. Regional style.

2.4 Regional styles

Sauces in the Hot Sauce HQ catalog may have an optional regional style. To enter a regional style category, the sauce's regional style in the catalog must match the category. HQ confirms the regional style of every sauce.

Regional style	What it means
Louisiana-Style	Red peppers such as cayenne or tabasco, with vinegar and salt. Thin, tangy and bright.
Mexican-Style	Mexican chiles such as árbol, guajillo or piquín, often with lime or spices. Thicker and earthier.
Verde (Green)	Green chiles, jalapeño, serrano, tomatillo or herbs. Fresh and bright.
Southwestern / New Mexico	Hatch or other Southwestern red or green chile. Roasted and earthy.
Caribbean / Jerk	Scotch bonnet or habanero, often with mustard, fruit, or jerk spices such as allspice and thyme.
Asian-Style	Sriracha, sambal, gochujang, chili-garlic and similar Asian chili sauces.
Peri-Peri	African bird's eye chile with garlic and citrus.
Middle Eastern / North African	Harissa, zhug, shatta and similar.
South American (Ají)	Ají amarillo, rocoto and other South American peppers.

2.5 Super Hot

A sauce qualifies for a Super Hot category if its Scoville rating on Hot Sauce HQ is at least 100,000: the tested value, or the low end of the estimated range. A sauce with no Scoville rating on file is not eligible. There is no member Heat rating requirement.

2.6 Artisan brands

A brand qualifies for the Artisan categories if it confirms that all of the following are true: it is independently owned (not owned by, or a subsidiary of, a larger food or beverage company); it makes fewer than 250,000 units a year across all its products; and it makes its products in small batches with its owners or a small team directly involved. Using a co-packer does not disqualify a brand. HQ may reclassify a brand that does not meet these criteria.

2.7 Product types

Every product on Hot Sauce HQ has a product type (hot sauce, wing sauce, BBQ sauce, salsa, hot jam or jelly, spread or dip, extract, snack or other), chosen when it is added and confirmed or corrected by HQ.

Every category is for traditional hot sauce only, except the Specialty Product categories, HQ Hidden Gem and HQ Brand of the Year.
Extracts are not eligible for any award.
A sauce may be nominated or entered in more than one category. For example, a traditional super hot sauce may be in both Best Classic Hot Sauce and Best Super Hot Sauce.

2.8 Changes to categories

HQ may add, rename or remove categories at any time. The categories for an award year are final once nominations and entries open on November 1. Past award years keep the categories and winners they had, and remain available on the Hot Sauce HQ awards history pages.

3. Eligibility (all groups)

In production: a product must have been in production and on sale at some point during the award year. A product discontinued before the award year began is not eligible.
Minimum ratings (People's Choice only): a sauce must have at least 10 member ratings when nominations close. This minimum does not apply to HQ Picks or Industry Choice.
Measured at close: rating counts, Scoville ratings, product types, regional styles, the Fruity marking and Artisan status are measured when People's Choice nominations close or, for Industry Choice, when entries close.
People's Choice and HQ Picks: a sauce or brand does not need a Hot Sauce HQ account or a paid plan to be eligible.
Industry Choice: a brand must be registered on Hot Sauce HQ to enter (any plan, including the free Bronze plan), with a brand profile that includes its logo, and each entered product must be listed in the Hot Sauce HQ catalog. HQ entries and invitations are covered in Section 8.8.
HQ may remove any nomination or entry that does not meet these rules, is a duplicate, or is otherwise inappropriate.

4. People's Choice: nominations and the shortlist

Any member may nominate from November 1 to December 31. You may nominate a sauce only if you have rated it.
Each member's nomination of a sauce counts once per category.
After nominations close, HQ reviews every nomination and confirms eligibility.
The 10 most-nominated eligible sauces or brands in each People's Choice category make the shortlist and go on the ballot. HQ resolves ties at the cutoff.
If a shortlisted nominee is removed or declines, the next most-nominated eligible nominee takes its place.

5. People's Choice: voting

Voting opens in January and closes on the second Sunday in February at 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
Nominating and voting require a Hot Sauce HQ member account (Free or Premium). Members must be 18 or older; there is no minimum account age.
You may vote for a sauce only if you have rated it.
One vote per member per category. You may change your vote until voting closes.
Members earn 5 Hall of Flame points per category voted; points have no cash value.
HQ staff, HQ Experts and Industry Choice judges may nominate and vote in People's Choice like any other member, subject to Section 12.
HQ does not disclose individual votes.
The winner and runner-up in each category are the nominees with the most and second-most valid votes. HQ resolves ties.

6. HQ Picks

HQ Picks are chosen by the HQ team and reflect HQ's opinion. HQ records one winner and one runner-up for each HQ Picks category.

7. Industry Choice: the judges

Industry Choice is decided by a panel of industry experts chosen by HQ, for example owners and leaders of hot sauce companies, well-known hot sauce makers and recipe creators, hot sauce show hosts and personalities, and chefs. HQ decides who serves as a judge each year and may add or remove any judge at its discretion.
The number of judges is not fixed and may change from year to year.
Hot sauce makers may serve as judges, even if their own brand has entries. Because the tasting is blind, a judge may taste their own brand's product without knowing it. Section 9.3 explains how HQ handles this so it never counts.
Before the tastings, every judge tells HQ which brands they own, work for, are paid by or are otherwise connected to.
Judges' written comments are shared with entrants without the judge's name, and entrants may use them in their marketing (Section 11).

8. Industry Choice: entering

8.1 Who can enter

A brand registered on Hot Sauce HQ (any plan, including the free Bronze plan), with a brand profile that includes its logo, enters through the Awards section of its brand account on the Hot Sauce HQ website. Each entered product must be listed in the Hot Sauce HQ catalog and meet the category's requirements in Section 2.

How to enter: the entry submission page lists every Industry Choice category that takes entries, with the number of entries used (for example, "0 of 2 entries used"). Click Add entry under a category and select the product; it then appears under that category. You can save your submission as a draft and come back to it; a draft is not an entry until it is submitted. When you have added all the entries you want, submit your entry submission. HQ then generates your entry submission form, and you receive it by email with your entry confirmation. A copy also goes to HQ so we know what to expect. You may make more than one entry submission before entries close; each has its own form.

Editing or withdrawing: your submissions are shown in the Awards section of your brand account. Until entries close, you may:

Edit a submission (add or remove entries). You and HQ each receive the updated entry submission form by email. Ship with the latest version of the form.
Withdraw a submission. You and HQ each receive an email confirming the withdrawal was received.
Submit again after withdrawing, as long as it is before entries close.

After entries close, submissions can't be edited or withdrawn.

8.2 When

Entries are open from November 1 to December 31. Bottles and product must be received by HQ by December 31.

8.3 How many entries

A brand may enter up to 2 products in each category, whatever its plan.
The same product may be entered in more than one category. It counts as one of the brand's 2 entries in every category it is entered in. For example, a sauce entered in both Best Fruity Hot Sauce and Best Classic Hot Sauce uses one of the brand's 2 entries in each of those categories, so the brand may enter up to 1 more product in each.

8.4 What to send

Hot sauce categories: send 2 bottles for each category entered (please provide enough for 50 samples). For example, a sauce entered in both Best Fruity Hot Sauce and Best Classic Hot Sauce needs 4 bottles.
Specialty Product: send enough product for a minimum of 50 tastings by the judges for each category entered.
Send your bottles and product exactly as sold, in their original, unaltered packaging with labels. Do not remove, cover or change labels. Entries are not shipped blind: HQ needs to know whose product it is, and HQ may photograph the bottles and product it receives. HQ makes the samples blind at the tasting (Section 9.1).
Print your entry submission form and include it in the package. Ship to the address shown on the form.

Shipping in multiple packages? Include a copy of your entry submission form in each package. On each copy, mark which entries and how many bottles or units are in that package, and fill in the line "This is package ___ of ___" so HQ knows how many packages to expect.

8.5 Shipping and returns

Entrants ship at their own expense. Bottles and product are not returned.

8.6 Expert review and HQ Tasting Panel request

The entry form includes an optional checkbox: "Request HQ complete an Expert review and HQ Tasting Panel on my entries (not guaranteed)." HQ will make an attempt to use products received for Industry Choice in its Expert reviews and HQ Tasting Panel, but because of the number of entries, no guarantee can be made. Any HQ Tasting Panel score is published under the HQ Tasting Panel Terms, like any other Tasting Panel score.

8.7 Late arrivals

Bottles or product received after the December 31 deadline may be accepted at Hot Sauce Headquarters' sole discretion.

8.8 Nominations by HQ and the judges; HQ entries

Judges may suggest products to HQ, and HQ may nominate products itself. HQ may invite a brand to enter a nominated product. Invited entries do not count toward the brand's 2-entry limit in that category.
If the brand does not respond to the invitation, HQ may buy the bottles or product at retail and enter the product itself.
A brand may decline any invitation or HQ entry (Section 15).

8.9 Entries that can't be judged

If an entry has to be excluded (for example a missing bottle, not enough product for the samples, a broken bottle, or a product that does not meet the category's requirements), HQ will attempt to notify the entrant.

8.10 Minimum number of entries

A category needs at least 3 eligible entries to be awarded. HQ may use invitations and HQ entries (Section 8.8) to help a category reach 3. A category with fewer than 3 eligible entries is not awarded that year.

9. Industry Choice: how the tasting works

9.1 Blind tasting

All tasting categories are judged in person as a blind tasting. Entrants send their products in their original labeled packaging (Section 8.4); HQ staff pour or plate each sample away from the judges and mark it only with a code. Judges never see the bottle, label, brand or product name, and nothing in the tasting area identifies a product.

9.2 Scoresheets

Each category has its own scoresheet, because judges look for different things in different styles (for example, what makes a great fruity sauce is different from what makes a great verde or Louisiana-style sauce). Every scoresheet produces a score out of 100 and includes a Flavor score. Every scoresheet includes room for written comments.

9.3 Connected brands and voided scores

Because the tasting is blind, a judge may be served a product from a brand they are connected to (Section 7) without knowing it. The judge scores it like every other sample, so no one at the table can tell. When HQ records the scores, HQ matches each sample code to its product and voids every score a judge gave to a product from a brand they are connected to. A voided score is not counted in any average, ranking or tie-break. Judges are not told which of their scores were voided.

9.4 First round (when needed)

Depending on the number of entries, a category may be tasted in two rounds.

In the first round, a subset of the judges tastes and scores every entry in the category and selects the top 5 (the 5 highest average scores) to move on to the final tasting.
If a tie decides whether a product moves on to the final, the subset of judges decides it by discussion and a vote.
A category with 5 or fewer eligible entries goes straight to the final tasting.
First-round scores are used only to choose the finalists.

9.5 Final tasting

During the final tasting, all judges taste and judge the finalists (no more than 5) of every category.
All of a category's finalists are delivered to the judges at the same time, so each judge can move back and forth between them while scoring.
After scoring a category, each judge ranks that category's finalists from most liked to least liked.

9.6 Winner and runner-up

A product's final score is the average of all judges' valid (not voided) final-tasting scores.
The winner is the finalist with the highest final score. The runner-up is the finalist with the second-highest final score.
A product must score at least 70 out of 100 to place. If no finalist scores 70 or more, the category has no winner that year. If only one does, the category has a winner and no runner-up.

9.7 Ties

A tie for winner or runner-up is broken in this order:

The higher average Flavor score.
The better average ranking by the judges (Section 9.5).
If still tied, a live head-to-head vote of the judges.

10. Pepper Pros' Sauce of the Year

After the final tastings, all judges taste the winners of every hot sauce category together, blind, on the overall scoresheet. The winner of Pepper Pros' Specialty Product of the Year is not included.
If one sauce won more than one category, it is tasted once.
The rules in Sections 9.3, 9.5, 9.6 and 9.7 apply: judges score and rank the sauces, connected scores are voided, a sauce must score at least 70 to place, and ties are broken by Flavor score, then ranking, then a live head-to-head vote.
The sauce with the highest average score is Pepper Pros' Sauce of the Year, and the second-highest is the runner-up.

11. Feedback to Industry Choice entrants

Every entrant receives, for each of its entries and for each round the entry was judged in, the average score for each scoresheet criterion and the overall average, plus all of the judges' comments.
Individual judges' scores are never shared, and comments are shared without judges' names.
Entrants are free to use the judges' comments they receive in their marketing as they see fit.
Average scores are sent shortly after the results are published. Comments may take longer to process.
Scores and comments are sent only to the entrant. HQ does not publish them.

12. Fair play and campaigning

The Golden Pepper Awards reflect what real members, the HQ team and industry judges think of the products they have tasted. They are not a contest of who has the most employees, the biggest following or the largest marketing budget.

Allowed: brands may encourage fans to vote in People's Choice and share a link to the ballot, for example: "Cast your vote for your favorite hot sauce. We hope we have your vote!"

Not allowed:

Offering or giving anything of value in exchange for a nomination or vote, including discounts, free products, giveaways, contest entries or payments.
Nominating or voting for a sauce or brand you own, work for, are paid by or are otherwise connected to. This applies to owners, employees, contractors and representatives.
Asking employees, family, friends or co-workers to nominate or vote for your brand.
Using fake, duplicate, automated or coordinated accounts, trading votes, or any other attempt to manipulate results.

HQ may invalidate any nomination, vote, entry or score, disqualify any product or brand, and limit or close accounts involved in a breach of these rules. HQ has the final say on which nominations, votes, entries and scores count.

13. Money doesn't affect results

Sponsors, advertisers, affiliate partners, brands on paid plans and anyone else who spends money with HQ are eligible like everyone else. Being a sponsor or advertiser, being on a paid plan, or spending any money with HQ does not help or hurt any nomination, vote, shortlist, entry, entry limit, score, HQ Pick or result. Industry Choice entry limits are the same for every plan.

14. Winners and runners-up

Each category has one winner and one runner-up, decided as described for its group (Sections 5, 6, 9 and 10). There are no other placings.
HQ confirms all results and may override a result for fraud, error, a rule violation or ineligibility, recording the reason. HQ may also decline, withhold, hide or revoke an award, including after it is published, for vote manipulation, fraud, a breach of our terms, a product recall or a serious safety concern.
In March, HQ publishes the winner and runner-up of every category in all three groups. Vote counts, vote percentages and judges' scores are never published.
All Golden Pepper Awards are given by HQ in its sole discretion. HQ may create, change, modify, suspend, cancel, withhold, revoke or rescind any award, category, rule, process, nomination, entry, score or result at any time and for any reason, with or without notice, including after an award has been published or announced. No person, product or brand has any right to be nominated, shortlisted, entered, judged, or to receive or keep an award.
HQ's decisions are final. There is no appeal.

15. Declining a nomination, entry or award

A brand owner may decline a nomination, invitation, HQ entry or award for the brand's products or the brand by emailing stayspicy@hotsauceheadquarters.com.

If a People's Choice shortlisted nominee declines, the next most-nominated eligible nominee takes its place.
If a winner declines, the runner-up becomes the winner. The next-highest nominee becomes the runner-up; in Industry Choice, that is the next-highest scoring finalist that scored at least 70.

16. What an award means

People's Choice results reflect member votes. HQ Picks reflect the HQ team's opinion. Industry Choice results reflect the scores of HQ's industry judges in a blind tasting. No award is a certification of safety, quality or legal compliance.

17. Announcement and use

Winners and runners-up are published on the awards page and displayed prominently on the product's page and on the brand's and company's pages. Winners may say they won and may display the award name and year (for example, "Golden Pepper Awards 2026 — Pepper Pros' Best Super Hot Sauce") in marketing, using artwork provided by HQ. They may not alter the award name or artwork, apply it to other products, suggest a different year, category or placement, or keep using an award that has been revoked.

18. Awards, trophies and certificates can't be sold or transferred

An award belongs only to the product or brand, and the year and category, it was given for. An award may not be sold, auctioned, licensed, assigned or transferred to anyone else or to any other product or brand.
HQ may provide trophies, certificates or award artwork to winners. They may not be sold, auctioned or transferred, and must be returned to HQ if the award is revoked or HQ asks for them back.

19. Changes and general

HQ reserves the right to modify these rules and the awards process at any time without warning. HQ will post the updated rules with their effective date.
If an overwhelming number of entries are received, HQ may add steps to reduce the number of samples presented during the in-person tasting.
The categories for an award year do not change after nominations and entries open (Section 2.8).
HQ may cancel, suspend or modify the awards or their timing if fraud, technical problems or other factors affect fairness.
These rules are governed by Nevada law.
Questions: stayspicy@hotsauceheadquarters.com