New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Champion Of
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New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Champion of Cheese Awards New Zealand Specialist Entry Information 2019 Cheesemakers Champion of Cheese Awards Entry Information 2019 1 CONTENTS Why Enter 3 Key Dates 4 Rules of Entry 5 - 7 Categories Defined 8-9 Categories with Class Code (for manual entry only) 10-14 Entry Form example 15-18 2 WHY ENTER? Every year the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards celebrate and champion the country’s best specialty cheese, yoghurt and butter. It is the only national cheese competition in New Zealand and represents a unique opportunity to evaluate and benchmark cheese making excellence and the very highest of standards. Cheese and dairy producers throughout New Zealand are encouraged to submit their goods for consideration with the assurance that judging is objective and transparent and conducted by an independent panel of local and international experts. Brand exposure and awareness Excellent publicity for medal and trophy winners, supported by the NZSCA website, social media marketing (Cheese Lovers NZ Facebook and Instagram pages owned by NZSCA to promote NZ cheese), digital marketing and by the family of NZ Champions of Cheese sponsors. A money can’t buy quality endorsement These Awards provide a quality endorsement to support marketing. Medal and champion product logos and product stickers are available for use on products which reach judging benchmarks. Content marketing opportunity All medalists and trophy winners will have a strong message to share with distributors, store owners and customers using one-on-one discussions, newsletters, social media and publicity. Authoritative judging process Created for the New Zealand cheese industry by the industry, these independent awards are professionally run and managed. Cheese is entered without any identifying marks or labelling to assure independence and expert judging. Judging is conducted by an independent and experienced panel led by Master Judge Russell Smith with support from Ross McCallum. Feedback All entrants will receive feedback on their entries. 3 IMPORTANT DATES Late 2018 • Online entries open through https://nzsca.org.nz • Entry Information added to https://nzsca.org.nz • Announcement to media about all details for 2019 Awards • (Note entries processed and labels with judging codes sent out as entries are received) 2019 Friday 18 January Entries close Monday 21 January Final labels with judging codes posted from today Friday 8 February Last day for late entries with accompanying late fees (this will be strictly adhered to) Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 February Judging samples to arrive at: 4-6 Tironui Station Road West Takanini 2112 Samples may be delivered between 6am and 4pm on these days. Friday 22 February All Cheese transported to judging venue chillers at AUT. Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 February Judging at Auckland University of Technology, School of Hospitality and Tourism, 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland City Monday 25 February and Tuesday 26 February Audit of results Wednesday 27 February Individual results sent to entrants via email Monday 25 March Gold Medal results announced to public/media Tuesday 21 May AGM, 3-4.30pm, Hamilton, Distinction Hotel Tuesday 21 May • Gala Cocktail event at Distinction Hotel, Hamilton • Tickets available from Carmel Clark [email protected] $125.00 or tables of 10 $1150.00 4 RULES OF ENTRY 1. All cheeses, butter and yoghurt entered must be produced in New Zealand. 2. Closing date for entries if Friday 18 January 2019. Late entries will be accepted until 8 February but will attract a late fee (see details below). 3. Entry Fees - Note entries without accompanying payment will not be accepted. 4. Late entries only accepted with late fee surcharge. a) The Entry Fee for financial members of the NZSCA is $75 +GST ($86.25) per cheese entry and $150 +GST ($172.50) per entry for non-members. Entry fees are non-refundable. b) Late entries will accepted at the secretary’s discretion but will incur a late fee $100+GST ($115.00) per entry for financial members or $175 +GST ($201.25) for non-members Discounts are offered as per the table below. Products entered 2018 2019 Entries in 2019 3 3 paid plus extra 1 free 4 4 4 paid plus extra 1 free 5 5 5 paid plus extra 1 free 6 6 6 paid plus extra 2 free 8 7 7 paid plus extra 2 free 9 8 8 paid plus extra 2 free 10 9 9 paid plus extra 3 free 12 10 10 paid plus extra 3 free 13 20 20 paid plus extra 6 free 26 c) The Entry Fee into the Curds and Whey Champion Home Crafted Cheese category is $35 +GST ($40.25) per cheese entered and this automatically enters you into the Curds and Whey Champion Home Crafted Cheesemaker Award. Entries in the Home Crafted cheese category will not go forward for the ‘Champion of Champions’ Awards. There is a separate entry form for Home Crafted Cheese. Entry fees are non-refundable. 4. Labels for your entries will be sent to you electronically when all entries have been processed. Please ensure that each product you send for judging is labelled with the correct ID number. 5. You may enter any number of different cheeses but each cheese, butter and yoghurt can only be entered into a class and category once (with the exception of Export, New, Original, Packaging Award, Farmhouse). 5 6. Additional Categories • Export Category - This is open to any cheese currently being exported anywhere outside New Zealand. The product with highest marks will be awarded the winner. • Original Category - Of an original NZ recipe or process. Explain why or how this is unique. The cheese must display a particular, local character or unique local quality that is distinctly New Zealand. The cheese must be distinguished with a unique name. • New Cheese Cheeses released on the market within the past 12 months. • Packaging Award- applicants will be sent a questionnaire to complete, and this will be judged by suitably qualified designer and marketing specialists. • Farmhouse Cheese- open to any cheese • Aspiring Cheesemaker - applicants will be sent a questionnaire to complete, and will be judged by NZSCA appointees 7. It is not permitted to enter a cheese that has been bored or sampled with a cheese trier. Any such cheeses will be judged and given a complimentary score but will be ineligible for any medals or awards. 8. All producers agree not to hold the organisers responsible in the event of any accident, loss or damage from whatever cause, arising to any article or exhibit or non-delivery of the same. 9. The judges reserve the right to cancel or alter categories/classes without notification. 10. All entries become the property of NZSCA. 11. Product Size The following is a recommendation on the amount of cheese to send: Small cheesemakers (ie Boutique Cheese Producer category) A minimum of 1 kg should be submitted from the same production batch. All cheeses under 1 kg should be entered whole and uncut without any brand identity. Large cheesemakers (ie Commercial category) Whole cheeses are preferred but if this is not possible the recommended minimum is 5 kg without any brand identity. If a whole cheese is 1kg or under, a minimum of 1kg should be submitted from the same production batch. All cheeses under 1kg should be entered whole and uncut without any brand identity. Yoghurt – greater than 2 litres – 1 pack required, 500ml to 2l – 2 packs required, less than 500ml 4 packs required. Butter – greater than 600g – one pack required, 200g-600g – 2 packs required. 6 The judging consists of two rounds Medals Round: where the gold, silver and bronze medals and category champions are decided by panels of 3 judges. Championship Rounds: where all the judges are given the opportunity to judge the gold and high scoring silver medal winners to decide the two Champion of Champions Awards (Boutique Cheese Producer & Commercial). In the Yoghurt, Butter and Packaging Categories, a Category Champion will be selected but entries from these categories are not included in the selection of the two Champion of Champions Awards (Small Cheese Producer & Commercial) If you are a producer of more than 25 tonnes total annual production volume, you must be able to produce (or have the capacity to produce) 500 kilos (½ tonne) of your entry per annum, for the entry to be considered for the Champion of Champions Award (Commercial). If you produce less than 25 tonnes you will be considered for the Champion of Champions Award (Small Cheese Producer). 13. On arrival all cheeses will be held in chilled storage. On the day prior to judging, exhibits will be dealt with in the following manner: The cheeses will be brought to as close as 10 -12°C overnight prior to judging to be at 12 – 14°C for judging. 14. The Judges’ decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. The cheeses will be re-wrapped after their category has been judged with re-labelling of the unique entry number if necessary. The cheeses will be kept together as a category throughout their movement from storage to judging room and back to storage. 15. All cheese must be delivered to TBC Auckland and must be received on Wednesday 20 or Thursday 21 between 9am and 4pm. Delivery is to 4-6 Tironui Station Road West, Takanini. 16. Use of NZ Champions of Cheese Medal and Award labels The official NZ Champions of Cheese Award logo and Award medal labels gold, silver, bronze, Champion of category and Champion of Champions design and image are the property of the NZSCA. No person or entity has the right to reproduce this award sticker other than the official supplier Kiwi Labels.