World Cheese Awards close their entry list on 15 September

The World Cheese Awards stop taking entries on 15 September, two months before roughly 300 judges sit down in Córdoba to taste them.

Judging takes place on Thursday 12 November at the city's exhibition and convention centre, as the opening act of the Andalucía-Gusto del Sur international cheese festival, which runs to 15 November. It is the 38th edition of the competition.

What the World Cheese Awards ask of a cheesemaker

A super gold sells more cheese than any advertisement a small dairy can afford.

Organisers expect more than 5,000 cheeses. The Guild of Fine Food, which runs the awards from Dorset, collects entries through 20 consolidation points around the world, so a producer in Chile or Japan ships to a regional depot rather than to Spain. Entry closes earlier than 15 September if capacity is reached first; the window opened on 11 June.

Cheeses are split across tables of about a dozen judges, each pair working through 30 or so entries and awarding bronze, silver, gold or super gold. The super golds go forward to a final table, where one cheese is named world champion in front of the room.

Last year's edition, in Bern, drew a record 5,244 entries from 46 countries. The title went to a Gruyère AOP, the eighth Swiss win in the competition's history and a result that pushed Swiss export orders for months afterwards.

Córdoba after Bern

Andalusia is an unusual host. The region is better known abroad for olive oil and the price swings of its harvest than for cheese, though its goat's-milk producers in the Sierra de Cádiz and the Subbética have been collecting medals for a decade.

For small producers the calculation is blunt. Entry costs money and a super gold is worth more than any advertising they could buy, which is why the awards have grown faster than any other cheese competition in Europe.

The full results are published the same evening. Whether a Spanish cheese finally takes the top table at home is the only question the trade will ask on 13 November.