DENVER, Colo. – May 10, 2023 – The American Cheese Society (ACS) is excited to announce that the largest judging and competition of its kind for American-made cheeses, the ACS Judging & Competition, will be once again taking place from May 15-19, 2023 at the Huntington Bank Stadium at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. This is the second year that the ACS Judging & Competition will be held separately from the annual ACS conference, shining a spotlight on the importance of this event.

"We are thrilled to have a consistent home for the American Cheese Society Judging & Competition in Minneapolis," said Tara Holmes, Executive Director of ACS. "This beautiful city, with its rich history of cheese-making, provides the perfect backdrop for this principal event. We look forward to continuing to showcase the talents and hard work of cheesemakers in the wonderful Minneapolis community for years to come." Minneapolis provided an ideal center country location for the wide range of expert judges to come together for last year’s Judging & Competition event and ACS is very excited to return.

Over 1,400 American-made cheeses will be judged by an esteemed panel of experts in 131 categories, in hopes of being crowned the coveted "Best of Show". This year's competition will bring together cheeses and cultured dairy products from over 200 companies and producers, showcasing the talents and work of cheesemakers from the United States / Canada / Americas as leaders within the international cheese industry.

The ACS Judging & Competition not only celebrates the craft of cheesemaking, but provides cheesemakers invaluable sales, marketing, technical, and sensory feedback from the judges to help them to produce higher-quality product.

Winners of the ACS Judging & Competition will be announced and celebrated at the Awards Ceremony during the ACS 2023 Annual Conference, held in July in Des Moines, IA.

For a list of past J&C winners, please visit https://www.cheesesociety.org/competition-winners.