Baker Xavier Netry was chosen this week as the 31st winner of Paris's annual "Grand Prix de la baguette" prize, beating 172 others contestants.
Competing baguettes were evaluated for taste, look, texture, airiness and the quality of the baking. The jury included a deputy mayor, industry representatives, journalists and six Parisians that City Hall said were drawn at random.
The Utopie bakery in Paris's 11th arrondissement, where Netry works, wins €4,000 ($4,290) and becomes one of the suppliers of the presidential Elysée Palace for a year.
City Hall said uneaten baguettes from the competition were donated to a charity that feeds people who are homeless.
Netry, a baker for 25 years, said the secrets of his success are a good sourdough starter and "a good long fermentation," careful cooking and "some love and some passion, of course."
