World Cheese Awards 2018 opens for entry

The World Cheese Awards will open for entry on Wednesday 5 September, with organisers, the Guild of Fine Food, expecting a record-breaking 3,500 cheeses to be judged in Bergen, Norway on Friday 2 November.

Dedicated only to cheese, with no other dairy products judged, the World Cheese Awards is the largest cheese-only competition on the planet and will this year form part of a brand new festival, Matnasjonen Norge. Taking place at Bergen’s iconic Grieg Hall, the 31st edition of the awards will be set against the backdrop of Norway’s finest food and drink, including highlights such as Kraftkar from Tingvollost, which took the World Cheese Awards’ top prize in 2016.

As the international cheese community gathers, entrants from over 30 different countries will be looking to showcase their cheese on a world stage, hoping to land a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Super Gold award. An epic celebration of all things cheese, the World Cheese Awards will bring together over 230 buyers, retailers, writers and makers from every corner of the globe, to judge every entry in a single day and ultimately crown this year’s World Champion Cheese.

John Farrand, managing director of the Guild of Fine Food, organisers of the World Cheese Awards, explains:

“With 30 years now under our belt, we’re very excited to be visiting Norway for the first time, in partnership with HANEN, to stage the largest cheese-only event that the world has ever seen. This global celebration of cheese leaves a lasting legacy each and every year, for its hosts as well as its winners, and we feel incredibly proud to be taking a headline slot at Matnasjonen Norge, as the country salutes its farmers, producers, chefs and retailers. With cheeses from six continents on their way to Bergen this year, we’ll be bringing a truly international edge to the festival, but I feel confident that Norway’s fantastic cheesemakers will be grabbing a few gongs along the way.”

For more information on World Cheese Awards, please visit: www.gff.co.uk/awards/world-cheese-awards.