Italy 1993: Russia 1994: Côte d’Ivoire 1995: Thailand 1996: All previous countries 1997: Brazil 1998: Portugal 1999: Morocco 2000: India 2001: Netherlands 2002: Argentina 2003: South Korea 2004: South Africa 2005: Ireland 2006: Costa Rica 2007: Spain 2008: Turkey 2009: Chile 2010: Tunisia 2011: Belgium 2012: Philippines 2013: Sweden 2014: Panama 2015: Poland 2016: Canada 2017: Colombia 2018: Czech Republic 2019: City of Memphis & Shelby County 2020: Festivities cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic 2021: International salute to Ghana postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic 2022: Ghana 2023: Malaysia World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC) History The WCBCC started in 1978 with 26 teams. The contest drew 50 teams in 1979, 80 in 1980, and 180 teams from nine states in 1981. It has now grown to be the largest pork barbecue competition in the world. More than 250 teams from 20+ states and several countries compete, and an estimated 100,000 people attend the competition. Media from around the world, including BBC and The Food Network, come to the city to cover the event. Credit for the original idea of a barbecue contest goes to Rodney Baber, chairman of the Memphis in May events committee in 1977, and his co-worker Jack Powell, Tennessee's reigning chili champ at the time. The original champion at the first competition was Bessie Louise Cathey, who won a $500 prize, a sizable return for her $12 entry fee. Today, the prizes for each event range from $300 to $15,000 for the main cooking competition, and from $250 to $2,500 for the ancillary contests. Today's entry fees range from $700 to $2,600 just for renting the necessary booth space, and an extra $60 per competition entry. Some teams regularly budget amounts in excess of $15,000 just for the competition and booth. In 1989, when MIM officials discovered that there was a feast in Honolulu which earned the title of "largest barbecue" in the Guinness Book of Records, they calculated the amount of food prepared at the WCBCC. The total was 55,297 pounds of pork, and thus earned the WCBCC a record in the 1990 edition. Over 16 tons of pork were smoked at the 2016 WCBCC. The 2017 World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest was the first time the event spanned four days instead of three. In addition, the Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q team became the first five-time champion of the event (2017, '14, '11, '03, '00). No