The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

hand-picked \hand-picked\ adj.
   carefully selected; as, a hand-picked jury; the company's
   president groomed his hand-picked successor.
   [WordNet 1.5 +PJC]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

41 Moby Thesaurus words for "handpicked":
   accepted, adopted, appointed, approved, best, carried, champion,
   choice, chosen, designated, elect, elected, elected by acclamation,
   elite, embraced, espoused, for the best, greatest, matchless,
   named, nominated, optimal, optimum, paramount, passed, peerless,
   picked, prime, prize, quintessential, ratified, select, selected,
   supreme, surpassing, unanimously elected, unmatchable, unmatched,
   unparalleled, unsurpassed, very best