Portugal, which will be the host country of the World Cheese Awards for the first time, will go down in the history of the event by hosting, between the 15th and 17th of November, in Viseu, what will officially be the biggest edition ever of the Cheese Oscars, reaching record numbers of participation, both in absolute values ​​and in terms of the volume of cheeses and Portuguese producers in competition.

There are 4,784 cheeses in the competition, entered by producers from 47 countries, a number that represents a 6.3 percent increase in the number of entries compared to the highest record achieved by the event to date, with the 4,502 cheeses evaluated by the jury at last year's edition in Trondheim, Norway.

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The record number reached by the 2024 edition, the first held in Portugal, highlights the unprecedented participation of national producers who did not want to be left out of the event that will transform Viseu into the world capital of cheese.

With 182 Portuguese candidates for the Cheese Oscars in 2024, the national representation in this year's edition far exceeds the maximum participation in previous editions, which had 56 Portuguese cheeses entered in the 2021 edition in Oviedo, Spain, its most expressive volume. Numbers that represent an increase of around 225 percent.

“We couldn’t be happier with the results achieved so far. When we started this journey to bring the World Cheese Awards to Portugal, we set two major goals for this edition: to break the record for the number of cheeses in the competition and to achieve the largest-ever representation of national products and professionals. We achieved both, we broke all records”, highlights Bruno Filipe Costa, food expert and driving force behind bringing the event to Portugal.

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The director also highlights the feeling of “deep satisfaction” with the adhesion of Portuguese producers to the challenge launched by the organization, since, he explains, “more than breaking records, tripling the participation of national producers allows us to pave the way for what is one of our main goals with this initiative: to actively contribute to the promotion and appreciation of the Portuguese cheese sector through an event that positions itself as a huge international showcase of the best that is produced in this sector, guaranteeing unparalleled visibility and contributing to the increase in exports.”

In addition to the number of entries for the competition, this year's edition of the World Cheese Awards has also seen, according to the organization, a strong demand in terms of the number of exhibitors, with producers, industry professionals, buyers and press from all over the world, opening a unique window of opportunity for the promotion of national producers among important international players, with the potential to boost exports in the Portuguese cheese sector. Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Brazil and Japan are some of the main markets with a confirmed presence in Viseu, from the 15th to the 17th of November.

The event, known as the Cheese Oscars, has been organized for more than three decades by the British Guild of Fine Food and promises to bring together in Viseu the world's largest producers and refiners, with more than 4,700 cheeses from more than 47 countries competing for the discerning palate of a jury composed of 250 experts of around 40 nationalities. The jury will feature the largest contingent of Portuguese judges in the history of the competition, with 35 professionals, including cheese experts, food critics, chefs and other industry professionals.

The initiative will also bring to Portugal more than a hundred journalists from specialist publications, influencers and connoisseurs from all over the world, with a Cheese Summit and a Gastronomic Festival open to the general public and free of charge.