New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Champion Of
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New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Champion of Cheese Awards 2018 Entry Information 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. 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 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 Event organisers Marvellous Marketing are experienced publicists and will promote 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, ably supported by Ross McCallum and Lassa Skinner in senior judging roles. Feedback All entrants will receive feedback on their entries. Food Marketing and Brand Building Workshop presented by Marvellous Marketing As part of the entry fee, cheese makers may attend a complimentary two-hour brand building workshop covering latest communications trends, marketing and sales tools. This is a marvellous opportunity to network with other New Zealand small food producers, cheesemakers and chocolatiers. 3 IMPORTANT DATES Late 2017 Online entries open through https://nzsca.org.nz Entry Information added to https://nzsca.org.nz Announcement to media about all details for 2018 Awards (Note entries processed and labels with judging codes sent out as entries are received) 2018 Friday 19 January Entries close Monday 22 January Final labels with judging codes posted from today Friday 9 February Last day for late entries Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 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 23 February All Cheese transported to judging venue chillers at AUT. Saturday 24 February Judging at Auckland University of Technology, School of Hospitality and Tourism, 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland City Monday 27 February and Tuesday 28 February Audit of results Wednesday 28 February Individual results sent to entrants via email Thursday 1 March Gold Medal results announced to public/media Thursday 15 March AGM, Auckland (morning) venue TBC Thursday 15 March Gala Cocktail event at Fale Pasifika, 20 Wynyard Street, Auckland Champion cheese trophy results released 4 RULES OF ENTRY 1. All cheeses entered must be produced in New Zealand. 2. Closing date for entries is Friday 19 January 2018. Late entries will be accepted until 9 February but will attract a late fee (see details below) 3. Entry fees Note entries without accompanying payment will not be accepted. 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 c) The Entry Fee into the Curds and Whey Champion Home Crafted Cheese category is $30 +GST ($34.50) 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 cheese entries will be sent to you electronically when all entries have been processed. Please ensure that each product is labelled with the correct ID number. 5. You may enter any number of different cheeses but each cheese can only be entered into a class and category once (see Categories and Classes). 6. New Product Category This is open to any new products launched during 2017 and before judging in February 2018. 7. Export Category This is open to any cheese currently being exported anywhere outside New Zealand. 8. All entries become the property of NZSCA. 9. 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. 10. 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. 11. The judges reserve the right to cancel or alter categories/classes without notification. 5 12. Cheese Size The following is a recommendation on the amount of cheese to send: Small cheeses 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 cheeses Whole cheeses are preferred but if this is not possible the recommended minimum is 5 kg without any brand identity. 13. The judging consists of two rounds Medals Round: where the gold, silver and bronze medals are decided by panels of 2-3 judges. Championship Rounds: where all the judges are given the opportunity to judge the gold and high scoring silver medal winners to decide the Category Champions and the two Champion of Champions Awards (Artisan & 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 (Artisan). 14. 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. 15. 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. 16. All cheese must be delivered to TBC Auckland and must be received on Wednesday 21 or Thursday 22 between 9am and 4pm. Delivery is to 4-6 Tironui Station Road West, Takanini. 17. You may enter any number of different cheeses but each cheese can only be entered into a class and category once (see Categories and Classes). 18. 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. 6 No person or entity has the right to reproduce this label other than the official label supplier Kiwi Labels. This is an exclusive arrangement for 2018. All award labels must be officially sanctioned and purchased from Kiwi Labels irrespective of your company print or label supply. The image can however be used for other promotional non-product uses. For practical application reasons with large volume sales, the award label image can be incorporated into a product label if it forms part of a single label on a product pack. Authorisation for this and use of a label supplier other than Kiwi Labels is required in writing from the NZSCA. Further, the official artwork of the award logo and labels remain the exclusive property of the NZSCA. It cannot be reproduced off existing labels or logos, reproduced directly on pack or as part of general packaging. Any questions relating to the use and reproduction of labels must be addressed in writing to the Secretary, NZSCA Inc. Any producer found using NZ Champions of Cheese Awards medals on any cheese other than that which received the medal, will risk disqualification from future entry. This applies to cheeses which are renamed post awards i.e. the medal awarded applies only to the cheese named and entered into the competition. The price charged by the official label supplier includes a copyright fee that is paid to the NZSCA. Order forms for labels will be sent to all medal and champion trophy winners on 1 March, 2018. 7 CATEGORIES DEFINED A. Fresh Unripened Cheese Prepared for consumption without the flavour enhancement of ripening or curing or the addition of moulds.