Secret Tips for Winning a Gold Medal

Winning the World Championship Cheese Contest requires sending your cheese and entry forms in the best possible condition.

Your Product Entry Forms

Carefully print or type information on your entry form. Illegible handwriting can handicap your entry.
It is imperative that you thoroughly describe all cheeses that have unique characteristics or do not have a standard of identity. To be blunt, the more these judges know about your nonstandard entry, the better judging you will receive. Consider enclosing sales materials that describe your nonstandardized cheese or unique characteristics.
Fill out your Shipping Tags at the same time you fill out your Product Entry Form.
Place one Shipping Tag inside your shipping box, next to your entry. (Many place the Tag in a plastic bag to avoid moisture.) The other Shipping Tag should be fastened to the exterior of the shipping container. Double check to be sure you have placed the correct shipping tags with their matching entry.

Be sure to allow adequate shipping time so your entries arrive no later than March 5, 2008. Specify your arrival date with your shipper.
Package your entry in sturdy packaging. Shipping and stacking can be hard on your World Champion product.
It's best to ship one entry per shipping box. Putting more than one entry in a box can be confusing for our check-in volunteers.
Protect your entry: use shredded paper "fill" in your shipping container. Avoid using foam pellets or "peanuts" as these materials can dent or mottle the surface of cheese and butter.
Use shipping materials that keep your entry cool and dry. Mark your package in bold letters: "Refrigerate : Do Not Freeze".

The Contest requires at least ten pounds (5 kg) of product for each entry. There are exceptions only for cheese manufacturers that enter the Goat's Milk and Sheep's Milk and Mixed Milk cheese classes, as well as the shredded and grated cheese class, and the Retail Packaging class. These classes require only two pounds (1 kg) for each entry.
Cheese entries cannot be pieces cut from larger cheeses. Enter your entire formed cheese. There are some exceptions:
1. Cheeses formed in 640 lb. blocks can be cut down into 40 lb. blocks;
2. Cheeses cut during manufacture, e.g. Feta in brine, Swiss block, etc.;
3. Snack Cheese entries.
It is important that these cheeses state: "Cut Cheese" on the Describe Entry line on your product entry form.
Select a winner! Appearance is a minor consideration, but it's the little things that make a winner. Look at your entry in a well-lit room. Check for defects, specks of material under the wrap, unattractive surface. A well crafted cheese is not necessarily as flat or square as granite, but it should not be lopsided, covered with wrinkles or dented.