Use the Find My Nearest Burger map on the website. Filter by region or by category if you are on a mission.

Scan the QR code at the venue, pick the burger you’re scoring, and give it a mark out of 10 for Looks, Taste and Eats. Looks is presentation and appeal, Taste is flavour, and Eats is how it eats: the preparation, the fillings and the texture. That is a score out of 30. Then snap your receipt in the app to finish.

Yes, once. You register a free scorer ID with your email address and mobile number the first time you score, and after that it is remembered. It takes a few seconds and it is the thing that keeps one person from scoring the same burger over and over.

Because a score should come from someone who actually bought the burger. Your receipt needs to show the date, the time and the burger by name. It is checked before your score reaches the leaderboard.

• Printed and digital receipts both work.

• Email receipts, text receipts and screenshots of receipts sent to you are all fine.

• Use the order confirmation receipt or the customer order summary from our preferred food delivery partner Delivereasy, or from whichever provider you ordered through. Either works as long as one image shows the burger by name, the date of the order, and either the venue name or the order ID. The docket the venue sends out with the food is not a receipt and will not be accepted, on its own or alongside one.

What does not count: selfies, photos of the burger, order dockets, EFTPOS slips and bank transaction screenshots. None of those show what you actually bought.

One photo is all we need, and one is all we can take, so make it count. If you have a long receipt, fold it or lay it flat and get everything in the single shot: the date, the time and the burger by name. As long as it is all in there we will sort out the rest.

That is fine. A receipt can be used by up to six different scorers, one for each competition burger it shows. Four burgers on the receipt means up to four people can each score one.

Also fine. Up to six scorer IDs can be registered from the same phone, because families and couples share. It’s the phone that counts, not the wi-fi, so a busy venue’s network will not stop anyone registering. If a lot of accounts appear on one device and all score the same burger, we’ll take a closer look.

No. One score per burger per person, and only your first valid score counts. You can score as many different burgers as you like though, and we’d encourage it.

One catch: you cannot score a burger from a venue you own, work for or are engaged by, or one where a partner, parent, child or sibling of yours does. Score somebody else’s burger instead.

Yes. You can submit any time during the competition as long as the purchase date on your receipt falls inside it. Scoring closes at 11:59pm on 4 April 2027 and receipts can’t be used after that.

Every burger has a rating, not a total. Your score out of 30 goes into that rating, so it moves the burger up or down depending on how it compares with what everyone else gave it. You only get one score per burger, so have a think and make it count.

On its rating, not on how many scores it gets. Extra scores at the standard a burger is already getting will not lift its position. Better scores will.

A burger needs at least 15 verified scores before it can be ranked. We then trim the extremes: the highest 10 percent and the lowest 10 percent of its scores are set aside and the average is worked out from what is left, so a handful of perfect tens or a handful of ones cannot decide it. Ratings built on very few scores are pulled toward the competition average until enough scores sit behind them. For more information please see the competition terms and conditions.

It probably has not reached 15 verified scores yet. Every burger is on the leaderboard from day one, but until it gets to 15 you will see how far it has to go, something like 3 of 15, rather than a score. So get your mates down there.

If two burgers competing for the same place are within 0.01 points we look at the higher average taste score first, then the higher number of verified scores. If they’re still level, they share the title.

We blur it from 9am on Saturday 3 April right through to the announcement on 14 April, so the ending is actually an ending. Scoring carries on as normal until it closes on 4 April, and the days after that are spent verifying the scores behind every title.

Wednesday 14 April 2027. Scoring closes on 4 April and the leaderboard stays blurred until the announcement while we check every score sitting behind a title. There are up to 30 titles: a Best Burger and up to two runners-up in each region, a national title in each of Meat, Chicken, Seafood and Plant, plus the coveted Gold Burger and the Silver Burger. How many places a region awards depends on how many burgers there qualify.

Spot prizes, handed out at our discretion through the competition, and the best comments get shared on the Burger Nation social feeds. There is no draw to enter and scoring more burgers will not improve your odds — we just pick them as we go. If you win one we will get hold of you on the email address or mobile number you registered with. Aside from that: you get to eat a lot of good burgers and settle an argument.

If we use your comment we might trim it for length, and it goes out as your first name and where you are from, like Dave, Auckland. Never your surname, your email or your number.

We use it to verify your scores, to stop duplicate scoring, and to get hold of you if you win a spot prize. When you register you can also tick to get Burger Nation updates and special offers — you need to be 18 or over for that part. It is optional and you can score without it, whatever your age.

We send those offers ourselves. Our sponsors don’t get your email address and neither do the venues. Every message has an unsubscribe link and you can use it any time without affecting any score you have already given.

Yes. Email burgers@cookandnelson.com and we will delete your registration. You can also ask for a copy of what we hold, or ask us to correct it. Receipt images are deleted on 13 May 2027.

Tell us. Email burgers@cookandnelson.com with the venue, roughly when it happened and what you saw. Every score is audited, venues are not allowed to offer you anything in exchange for scoring, and we act on what we find.

Email burgers@cookandnelson.com and we will sort it out.