Virtual Cheese Awards announces lineup for 2022 final

The UK’s first and only online cheese awards, the Virtual Cheese Awards, which supports and celebrates the best of British cheese, is gearing up for its third live final on Friday 13 May 2022.

The live final will be held from 10.30am to 5pm and will be hosted by broadcaster and local food and drink champion, Nigel Barden. The final will be broadcast live on the Virtual Awards website – https://www.virtualcheeseawards.com/vca-2022-live-stream – and on Facebook and YouTube live.

The awards can be viewed for free and it offers a unique opportunity to see behind-the-scenes of how cheeses are judged which usually happens behind closed doors. According to the organisers, it’s a great way to learn about different types of cheese and how they should taste and be enjoyed.

The final cheeses have already been whittled down from over 200 to around 35 by an expert panel of cheese judges. The cheeses that won their Classes (also available to watch online) will be judged across seven final categories including Best Speciality, Best Territorial, Best Blue, Best Cheddar and Best Artisan (hard and soft) and Best Enhanced cheese, along with the Supreme Judging where the winners of each category are judged together and the winner is announced.

The final British cheeses will be judged, tasted, sniffed and rated by a panel of the UK’s most experienced cheese professionals who will be deciding who deserves to be crowned Virtual Cheese Awards Supreme British Champion.

Sarah de Wit, co-founder of Virtual Cheese Awards, said: “We are so excited for the final of this year’s Virtual Cheese Awards. We are still a very new awards and only in our third year, we are so happy to have received over 200 entries of amazing British cheeses.

“It is going to be a great day full of celebrating the diversity and quality of the British cheese industry and we are thrilled to be welcoming such a wonderful array of experts who are coming on board to judge too!”

Judges including cheese buyers from supermarkets Booths, Morrisons and M&S along with buyers and experts from Paxton & Whitfield, Neals Yard Dairy, Rennet & Rind and Harvey & Brockless. They will be joined by cheese aficionados Emma Young, aka The Cheese Explorer and Ruth Holbrook from The Newt in Somerset.  

There will also be cheese-related panels, discussions and interviews with people from across the industry. There will be a session on how to sell your cheese, a discussion on the future of the British cheese industry and a big interview with Caroline Bell, joint MD at Shepherd’s Purse cheese.

Holly Shackleton, editor of Speciality Food magazine and media partner of the awards, will announce the winners of the Recognising Excellence Awards which celebrate the people behind the cheese. There are four awards including Young Cheesemaker Award, Cheese Hero and New Cheesemaker along with the Sustainability trophy.

With over 200 entries into this year’s awards, the Virtual Cheese Awards, now in its third year, is yet again doing an extraordinary job to showcase British cheesemakers.

Nigel Barden, host of the Virtual Cheese Awards said: “Cheese is something that in this country that we do well, really well in fact. It is an industry full of innovators and inspiring people who are truly passionate about making great cheese and they deserve all the praise we can give them!”

For more information on the Virtual Cheese Awards, visit: www.virtualcheeseawards.com