Cheese makers invited to enter British Cheese Awards 2020
The British Cheese Awards are now open for entries from across the UK. The event will be held on 28 May 2020 at The Royal Bath & West Show in Somerset where 70 expert judges will score each cheese on presentation, texture, aroma, flavour and balance. Top cheeses will receive gold, silver or bronze medals based on their score. Entries are open to farmhouse and artisan cheese makers through to large-scale producers until 10 April 2020.
To reflect the Awards’ growing popularity, the Cheese Awards Hall will be almost twice as big as in previous years. Uniquely, the British Cheese Awards are the only awards of their type where the public are not only able to watch the judging, but are also invited to taste and vote for their own favourite cheese in the People’s Choice Award.
One cheese will be crowned Supreme Champion from the winners of each of nine category awards including Best Territorial, Best Blue, Best Cheddar and Best Blue Cheese. The Supreme Champion 2019 went to White Lake Cheese for its English Pecorino.
Judges of the Awards include Mary Quicke of family cheddar producer Quicke’s, Diane Cox, master cheese grader at Wyke Farms and Alan Watson of Paxton & Whitfield, who was winner of the 2019 Young Cheesemonger of the Year.
The British Cheese Awards were established by Julia Harbutt in 1994 to celebrate the renaissance in British cheesemaking and to raise awareness of the quality and diversity of British cheeses. Over the last 26 years the awards have gone from strength to strength; there were nearly 900 entries from over 120 cheese makers in 2019.
Chairman of the British Cheese Awards, Julius Longman, said: “The British Cheese Awards demonstrate the quality and diversity of cheesemaking in the UK. We are proud that these Awards give producers recognition and accreditation from their peers and industry experts. It’s always a wonderful event, topped off with a fantastic celebratory dinner.”
