Whether it’s a Four’n Twenty from the servo, a gravy-drenched pie at the local pub or a bougie pastry from a five-star restaurant, it’s hard to find a bad meat pie in Australia. That’s exactly what makes finding the best of the best an incredibly difficult task. Luckily, there’s a competition dedicated to doing just that.
Now in its 36th year, The Official Great Aussie Pie Competition – Australia’s largest and longest-running contest for pies, sausage rolls and pasties – has crowned its 2025 winners. This year’s competition was fierce (and flaky), with hundreds of bakeries nationwide vying for a share of $50,000 in prizes and the ultimate bragging rights to Australia’s best pie. So, what exactly makes a “good pie”? According to chief judge Mike French, it comes down to several key criteria: “a base that is two to three millimetres thick with a nice even cooked-through bake. Good lamination on the lid with natural colour. Filling that doesn’t run, is stable and has good sensory appeal (taste, smell, texture and aftertaste).”
Across three days of competition, all pies are judged anonymously by a panel of industry experts against a set of criteria: general appearance (shape, even colour), size (single-serve lunch pie), filling (meat quality, flavour, colour and texture) and pastry (a visual flake, colour and eating quality).
In 2025, Paradise Bakehouse on Queensland’s Bundaberg coast nailed the brief with its classic mince pie. This isn’t the first time the locally-owned bakery – which opened its first outlet in Moore Park in 2021 and now boasts locations in Innes Park and Burnett Heads – has taken out the top gong. It claimed the Best Plain Meat Pie award in 2023, and its dancing scallop pie won Best Gourmet Pie in 2021.