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The World Cheese Awards

The World Cheese Awards logo

A truly global cheese event, World Cheese brings together cheesemakers, retailers, buyers and food commentators worldwide to judge over 4,000 cheeses from over 40 countries.

Taking place annually, the World Cheese Awards is hosted by different nations, working with the Guild of Fine Food to shine a light on local cheesemaking, food & drink tourism and culture.

World Cheese Awards tables of cheese for judging
World Cheese Awards 2024

Visit the World Cheese Awards 2024

The world’s largest cheese competition is coming to Viseu, Portugal. Find out more about attending as a trade, press or consumer visitor.

Find out more
Judges at World Cheese Awards 2023
World Cheese Awards 2024

World Cheese Awards heads to Portugal

The world's largest cheese only competition will take place in Viseu, Portugal in November this year.

Download the press release
Ole and Maren Gangstad, the owners of Gangstad Gårdsysteri holding the World Champion Cheese, Nidelven Blå
World Cheese Awards 2023

World Champion cheese announced

Gangstad Gårdsysteri triumphed with their blue cheese, Nidelven Blå, which was crowned winner of World Cheese Awards 2023.

Read full story
A judge at the World Cheese Awards
World Cheese Awards results

Explore World Cheese Awards winners

Search the directory to discover previous winners from the last three years

Search previous winners

WOrld cheese awards 2024

Enter your cheese

The World Cheese Awards 2024 has now reached entry capacity and is closed for further entries. Please email us to be added to the waiting list or if you have unpaid entries that you are hoping to enter. Please note entry after this point is not guaranteed. Delivery instructions will be sent out next week.

If you’d like to visit WCA in Viseu, Portugal as a press, trade or consumer attendee you can find out more here.

Guild of Fine Food organises World Cheese Awards
Guild of Fine Food organises World Cheese Awards

Put your cheese in front of international experts

World Cheese Awards exists to encourage cheesemakers from across the globe, allowing them to present their cheese to an international body of experts, and often shining a light on small, artisan producers.

As an accreditation that assesses each cheese on its own merit, an award ensures your product stands out on crowded cheese counters, regardless of the size of your business. It can also provide motivation for your team, as well as increasing sales and brand awareness by showcasing it on an international world stage.

World Cheese Awards directs more focus and encouragement for artisan and farmhouse cheeses than any other competition by offering worldwide consolidated shipping points to assist cheesemakers with the logistics and cost of shipping their entries.

A judge assessing a cheese at the World Cheese Awards 2022

A judge assessing a cheese at the World Cheese Awards 2022

Key dates for next edition

13 June 2024
Open for entry


16 September 2024
Entry closes – OR before if capacity is reached. ENTRY CLOSED ON 16 September at 11.48am BST (UK time).


Early November 2024
Deliveries due to the consolidation points – exact delivery dates, delivery labels, addresses & instructions will be issued to entrants nearer the delivery date


14 November 2024
Cheese entries staged


15 November 2024
World Cheese Awards judging


15 – 17 November 2024
Cheese festival for consumers – find out more


16 November 2024
Results will be verified and published 24-48 hours after judging


18 November 2024
Trophy winners announced

Tasting a cheese at World Cheese Awards 2022

Tasting a cheese at World Cheese Awards 2022

Entry cost per cheese

company sizecost per product
Small business
(turnover less than £1m)
£56
Medium business
(turnover between £1-5m)
£67
Large business
(turnover more than £5m)
£88
All costs exc. VAT.
World Cheese Awards cheese judging 2023

World Cheese Awards cheese judging 2023

World Cheese Awards Categories

Please read the categories list to check your cheese is eligible before making your entry.

World Cheese Awards 2023 judging table

World Cheese Awards 2023 judging table

Important note regarding eligibility:

Ensure you have read the Terms & conditions and categories list to check your cheese is eligible before you start. A sample entry form is also available to help you prepare the information needed.


Please note: eligibility of entries

The host country of the World Cheese Awards determines the import legislation for entries each year. Unfortunately, we are not permitted to accept entries from all countries.

This year, we are not permitted to accept entries of cheeses from a select number of countries, including Bangladesh, Barbados, Ecuador, Georgia, Peru, Russia, Taiwan and Venezuela. The Portuguese authorities have committed to accepting raw-milk (unpasteurised) cheese in this year’s awards. This applies to any country, excluding the eight countries listed, that are not permitted to enter any cheese.  If this permission is changed by the Portuguese authorities at any stage, we will refund the applicable entry fees to cheesemakers.

A flavour wheel at the World Cheese Awards 2022

A flavour wheel at the World Cheese Awards 2022

World Cheese Awards 2024 consolidation points

Global delivery points

To ensure cheesemakers of all sizes from around the world have access to entry, the Guild of Fine Food supports producers with a network of free delivery points across six continents. Eighteen consolidated shipping points globally give entrants, however small, the chance to ship their cheeses to a local depot, with consolidated forwarding to the competition covered by the Guild of Fine Food.

The judging panel

The quality and balance of our judging panel gives the World Cheese Awards the credibility and trust that has been built up over 30 years. We work hard on the panel every year: last year, judges came from 38 countries – often supported with travel arrangements to make sure any barriers to attending were limited – and represented technologists, graders, retailers, journalists, buyers, chefs, producers and key industry professionals and influencers.

Every year, the judging panel is reconsidered, and every person assessed for what they bring to the overall group. There are many wonderful cheese professionals around the world who could bring their expertise to the panel and places are rotated for each edition. This ensures we achieve a balance of age, gender, and discipline within the dairy industry.

If you know of anyone you think would make a valuable addition to the judging panel, please get in touch.

World Cheese Awards 2023 judges
World Cheese Awards

Watch: What is the World Cheese Awards?

Available to view with Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian or English subtitles.

World Cheese Awards 2023 Judging
World Cheese Awards 2023 Judging

What happens if you win an award?

As well as our own campaigns we run through PR and the independent trade, we want you to be able to share your good news with everybody, whether online, on the shelves or in the local press.

These are some of the different ways we can help.

Supporting our winners

World Cheese Awards 2023
Branded collateral

Labels

Simple and quick ways to promote your award, without the expense of changing your packaging

 

 

World Cheese Awards 2023 Judging
Brand guidelines

Logo artwork

Logo artwork is available for all to download and it is completely free for our smaller entrants

Cheese counter display in a shop
Where to buy

Keep stockists up to date

Make sure everyone knows where to buy your product worldwide.  Looking for a stockist? Talk to us about an enhanced directory listing.

World Cheese Awards Certificates
Certificates

Free downloadable certificates

All producers can download bespoke certificates to use on your social media, take to shows or frame for all to see

What our judges say

The World Cheese Awards is like the Super Bowl Championship for cheesemakers around the globe.

World Cheese Awards is a celebration of the skill of the cheesemaker, the provenance of the area in which the cheese is produced and ultimately the outstanding quality of
every aspect of the product itself

The World Cheese Awards, hosted by the Guild of Fine Food, is an incredible international cheese competition. It is an honour to be a judge at this prestigious
competition.

The World Cheese Awards is one of the important dates in my calendar each year. As well as being a great place to network and discuss the future of the industry, the
quality of products on show are always at the highest level, and the show itself is so well organised.

The World Cheese Awards is a unique opportunity, not only for the cheesemakers that take part in presenting their product for the whole world, but also for the judges to taste and uncover so many new cheese innovations in one place. For me, WCA is the most important cheese trendsetter, which is currently number one on a global scale!

Sponsors of this year’s event:

Need help?

Contact our team on [email protected] or +44 (0) 1747 825 200