‘Secret Tips’ for Winning a Gold Medal
Winning our Contest requires sending your cheese, butter and entry forms in the best possible condition:
Your Product Entry Forms
• Utilize MyEntries© which will ensure easy readability of entries. If entering by mail or fax, 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.
• Complete the shipping tags at the same time that you fill out your entry forms. When you enter online, these shipping tags will be automatically generated. This will help you clarify the entries that you submitted.
• You have two shipping tags for each entry. One is placed inside, with the entry, in an envelope. The other should be fastened to the exterior of the shipping container. Make sure the correct shipping tags are with the correct entry.
Shipping Your Excellent Entries
• Be sure to allow adequate shipping time so your contest entries arrive no later than Friday, February 25, 2011. Specify your arrival date or your entry may spend a Sunday on a warm shipping dock.
• Package your entry in sturdy packaging. Shipping and stacking can be hard on your United States Champion product.
• 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 the cheese and butter.
• Use shipping materials that keep your entry cool and dry. Mark your package in bold letters: “Refrigerate: Do Not Freeze”
Key Points to Remember
• Each entry must consist of at least ten pounds of product. Exceptions: If each fully formed piece of cheese in an entry is 8 ounces or less, manufacturers may send at least two pounds per entry. (No cut cheese allowed, per Rule 5!) If each fully formed piece of cheese in an entry is 1 pound or less, manufacturers may send four pounds per entry.
• Cheese entries cannot be pieces cut from larger cheeses. Enter your entire formed cheese. There are some exceptions: a) cheeses formed in 640 lb. blocks can be cut down into 40 lb. blocks; b) cheeses cut during manufacture, e.g. Feta in brine, Swiss block, etc.; c) cheeses entered in the Smoked Cheese class may be cut. 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.
Good luck in the 2011 United States Championship Cheese Contest!
