World Cheese Awards 2026 head to Córdoba
More than 5,000 cheeses from 45 countries face blind judging on 12 and 13 November, as the competition holds its first edition in Andalucía.
The World Cheese Awards judge more than 5,000 cheeses in Córdoba on 12 and 13 November, the 38th edition of the competition and its first stop in Andalucía.
The Guild of Fine Food, which organises the awards, is holding the event at Córdoba's Exhibition, Trade Fair and Convention Centre, hosted locally by the Instituto del Queso as part of the wider Andalucía-Gusto del Sur International Cheese Festival. Entries, already past 5,000 from 45 countries when the registration list closed in September, arrive through more than 20 consolidated shipping points worldwide before judging day.
Judging runs in two stages. In the morning, 270 judges work in teams of two or three, tasting and scoring every entry on appearance, smell, texture and flavour, with packaging, branding and any markings removed first. Judges are briefed on a cheese's type but told nothing about its origin or producer.
Judges are told nothing about a cheese's origin or producer.
How a champion gets chosen
Cheeses that pass the first round earn Bronze, Silver, Gold or Super Gold. In the afternoon, a Super Jury of 14 experts re-tastes every Super Gold entry to select the World Champion Cheese, the title that has gone in recent years to wheels from Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.
The competition runs alongside the Young Cheesemonger of the Year final, also held at the Córdoba venue on 12 November. The Academy of Cheese named eight finalists for that contest in October, drawn from shops and counters across the trade.
Why Córdoba, why cheese
Hosting the awards inside a regional food festival rather than a standalone trade event has become the organisers' preferred format in recent years, pairing the judging with public tastings and a market for the host city. For Andalucía, better known internationally for jamón and olive oil than for cheese, the awards put its smaller dairy producers in front of judges who will not know, until the scores are in, whose wheel they are tasting.
The result, a single World Champion Cheese chosen blind from thousands of entries, is announced on 13 November, closing out an edition that has moved the competition further from its UK roots than almost any before it.
