Three weeks from now, we head north for a hands-on competition prep workshop, and this is the point in the year when we start hearing from members who are quietly deciding whether to enter this cycle's competition or wait one more season. If you are on the fence, this workshop is built for exactly that moment.
The session is hands-on rather than lecture-heavy. Entrants bring a working sample of the cheese they are considering for entry, and a panel walks the room through the same criteria our judges use — balance, texture, finish, and how a wheel reads on a second and third taste, not just the first impression. Most years, the biggest value is not the scoring feedback itself; it is watching how differently the same wheel reads to five different tasters, which tells you a lot about whether an entry is ready or needs another few weeks in the cave. This past fall's national competition results showed just how concentrated the medal counts have gotten among a handful of dairy-heavy states, a reminder of how deep the field has gotten and how much an outside read on your own cheese is worth before you commit an entry fee.
Why December, specifically
Timing this workshop three weeks before the new year is deliberate. It gives entrants enough runway to make one more adjustment — an extra week of aging, a different affinage treatment, a change to the make sheet for the next batch — before entries lock in for spring judging, without so much lead time that the feedback goes stale. Members who have gone through the workshop in past years tell us the value is in getting outside eyes on a wheel while there is still time to act on what they hear, rather than after the fact, when the entry is already sealed and shipped.
This cycle's session also includes a short segment on entry paperwork, since a surprising number of otherwise strong entries get disqualified or delayed each year over incomplete category documentation rather than anything about the cheese itself. Categories have gotten more granular in recent competitions — a fresh mozzarella under a certain weight is judged differently from one above it, a burrata is its own category entirely — so getting the category right on paper matters as much as getting the make right in the vat. If you have entered before and had a paperwork snag, this is worth sitting in on even if you feel confident about the cheese.
If you're planning to attend
The workshop takes place in Wisconsin in December, so if you are driving in from outside the region, build in extra time and check road conditions the morning you leave. Registration is open now through the Events Committee, and space in the hands-on tasting rounds is limited, so earlier registration gets you a spot at the table rather than the observation rail.
If competition judging is something you have been curious about from the other side, ask about our Competition Judge Accreditation pathway while you are there — several past workshop attendees have gone on to pursue it after seeing how the scoring process actually works from inside the room. And whether or not you end up entering this cycle, the sensory-calibration exercises alone are worth the trip for anyone who wants a sharper, more consistent read on their own product.
The International Cheese Federation (ICF) and More Cheese are entirely fictional. This post is demonstration content created for MemberJunction. All people, organizations, events, courses, certifications, figures, and quotations in it are invented, and nothing here represents a real association, a real business, a real person, or real professional advice.