The 2025 NZ Champions of Cheese Awards will be judged at Wintec Te Pūkenga, Rotokauri Campus on Sunday 2 March 2025. Medal winners will be named on Tuesday 25 March 2025 with the Trophies and Category Champions announced at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards Gala Dinner in Hamilton on Thursday 1 May 2025.

For the first time entry is through the cheeseloversnz website – where the Awards organiser – the New Zealand Specialist Cheesemakers Association (NZSCA) has recently developed a portal with all its member information. The entry process is the same as in the past, it’s only the location of the entry form that is different. The NZ Champions of Cheese Awards 2025 entry can be found here.

NZSCA Chair, Simon Lamb said, “We are thrilled to begin the process for judging and hosting the 2025 NZ Champions of Cheese Awards, celebrating the incredible talent and dedication of Aotearoa’s cheesemakers.”

“The NZ Champions of Cheese Awards are vital for the New Zealand cheese industry as they provide recognition and promotion, helping to raise awareness and appreciation of Aotearoa’s cheeses among consumers. This recognition can boost sales and market presence for cheesemakers, contributing to their economic stability. The awards offer valuable feedback, enabling cheesemakers to improve their products and maintain high standards, which is essential for competitiveness. Additionally, by acknowledging efforts in sustainability and innovation, the awards encourage environmentally friendly practice and the development of new products, ensuring the long-term success and growth of the New Zealand industry,” Simon Lamb said.

The NZ Champions of Cheese Awards are in the 22nd year of recognising Aotearoa’s finest cheeses. The gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the finest cheeses can be attached to packaging to shine a light on the best examples of Kiwi cheese to guide consumers purchase decisions so their taste buds are always rewarded with excellent quality NZ cheese. Additionally, looking for the medals is a guarantee the cheese is made in New Zealand, keeping jobs in the regions.

For the Woolworths Sustainability Award each year judges focus on a different sustainability pillar. This year judges will be focusing on the environment and will consider how businesses are transforming environmental processes to enhance sustainability with initiatives which may include: water management, soil health, land use, restoration, waste reduction and energy efficiency.

This year the biannual Innovative Packaging Aspiring Cheesemaker Award will recognise a cheesemaker who shows exceptional dedication to developing their career and mastering the art of cheesemaking.

Master Judge, Jason Tarrant will again preside over the panel of 25 judges. Over the past four years in the role, Jason has taken a special interest in training new judges, which has resulted in a pool of talented cheese judges. Following training in October to coincide with NZ Cheese Month, three new recruits are joining the panel this year to assess cheese alongside experienced judges. 

NZ Champions of Cheese Awards entries close on Friday 21 February 2025. Cheeses will be assessed by a panel of up to 30 judges at Wintec, Rotokauri Campus on Sunday 1 March 2025. Medal winners will be named on Tuesday 25 March 2025 with trophies announced at the NZ Champions of Cheese Awards Gala Dinner in Hamilton on Thursday 1 May 2025.

The NZ Champions of Cheese 2025 Trophies are:

• Woolworths Champion of Champions (Commercial)
• Champion of Champions (Mid-sized)
• Champion of Champions (Boutique)
• MilkTestNZ Champion Cheesemaker
• Fonterra Co-operative Group Champion Original Cheese
• ECOLAB Champion Blue Cheese
• Champion New Cheese
• Novonesis Champion Soft White Rind Cheese
• Cheeselinks Champion Greek-Style or Danish-Style Cheese
• Champion Fresh Italian-Style Cheese
• WINTEC Te Pūkenga Champion Fresh Unripened Cheese
• AsureQuality Champion Dutch-Style Cheese
• IXOM Champion European-Style Cheese
• IFF Champion Farmhouse Cheese
• Thermaflo Champion Washed Rind Cheese
• Food Safety Quality Solutions Champion Aged Flavour Added Cheese
• Big Chill Distribution Champion Fresh Flavour Added Cheese
• Tetra Pak Champion Retail Cheddar Cheese
• Champion Bulk Cheddar Cheese
• OJI Fibre Solutions Best-in-Class Goat Milk Cheese
• Best-in-Class Sheep Milk Cheese
• Best-in-Class Buffalo Milk Cheese
• Dominion Salt Champion Export Cheese

NZ Champions of Cheese 2025 Special Awards are:

• Sabato Chefs’ Choice
• Woolworths Sustainability Award
• Innovative Packaging Aspiring Cheesemaker

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The event is the world’s largest beer competition, with 3,000 entries from 400 exhibitors across 21 countries.

Garage Project Brewery picked up 15 AIBA awards, including Champion Large International Brewery, and Champion International Beer for its Chance, Luck & Magic 2021.

Chance, Luck & Magic also won a trophy in the Belgian & French Ale category and Garage Project’s other Gold Medal-winning beers include Pernicious Weed, Pickle Beer and White Mischief.

“Winning back-to-back Champion Large Brewery trophies is a real testament to the quality and consistency of the Garage Project brewery team”, says Garage Project Co-Founder, Pete Gillespie.

Behemoth Brewery also won big, taking home Champion Medium International Brewery for the second year running and scoring a medal for every beer they entered.

The Kiwi Gold Medal winners were:

Garage Project

Chance, Luck & Magic 2021
Chance, Luck & Magic 2020
Pickle Beer (can)
Pickle Beer (keg)
White Mischief Peach Gose
Pernicious Weed IPA

Three Sisters

Wayward Son Fresh Hop Pale Ale
Quarter Acre Hazy IPA
Soggy Biscuit Dessert Stout
Liquid Cake #3 Dessert Stout

Behemoth

Cheech & Chong Fresh Hop Hazy IPA
Raging Raisin Quadruple
Saturation of Citra IPA
Altitude
Powder Day Lager
Blood Moon Schwarzbier
Symbiosis Hybrid Saison

Liberty

Juice Bro Hazy Pale Ale
Prohibition Porter

Urbanaut
Detroit IPA
Brixton Pale Ale

Thief Brewing
Nectaronicon IPA

Duncan’s
Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream Sour

Eddyline
Eddylite Low Carb Pale Ale

Fortune Favours
The Mystic Hazy IPA

Mount Brewing
Flora Incognita Mint & Hibiscus Sour

Sawmill
Baltic Porter

For the full catalogue of results, click here.

Source: www.theshout.co.nz

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Recent negative supermarket stories in New Zealand and Australia have shown how vital it is that spokespeople in the FMCG industry are prepared for that unwanted story that can thrust them into the national media spotlight without warning.

Most leaders are great communicators. That’s probably why they became leaders. But media interviews are like no other form of communication. Most leaders treat them as Q&As with the reporter or presenter. They simply answer the question asked of them and then wait for the next one. That may seem to be the correct approach because it’s how we communicate in every other part of our life.

A media interview is different

But a media interview is a different ball game. You need your own message and the skills to get it across. Otherwise the reporter has all the power, and you have no way of influencing what is covered or what parts of the interview are used in the news stories that follow.

It also makes you more likely to get misquoted or quoted out of context. With print media interviews and all broadcast interviews that aren’t live, only snippets will make it into the subsequent story. That’s why you need the skills to continually refer back to your own message to make sure it’s the focus of these snippets.

Recent media interviews with FMCG spokespeople on both sides of the Tasman show that this isn’t universally understood by the industry, or that the spokespeople haven’t been trained and put through their paces well before an issue erupts.

In a nutshell, you need to create your own message that you want the reporter to use. This must still be of interest to the media audience, be clear and brief. You then dress it up by using interesting language like analogies and examples. This then becomes attractive to the reporter because it will interest readers, viewers or listeners.

There is more to this than can be explained in a few sentences, but the key is to have a message that satisfies yourself and the person asking the questions. You then keep referring back to it as mentioned above. That’s your plan.

The ability for spokespeople to do this is vital, particularly when the stakes are high. It takes practice, but once mastered is valuable to any media spokesperson and their business. There are also techniques to deal with difficult questions and avoid traps that often aren’t even known until the subsequent story comes out.

The problem with untrained spokespeople

There are two big problems with FMCG businesses not having skilled spokespeople. These have all become evident through examples this year.

The obvious one is that they have no message and therefore no control in the interview. This often leads to them being quoted out of context because the interviewer will only quote one or two sentences of what could be a 15-minute chat. This doesn’t happen if they focus on a specific message and communicate that in different ways throughout.

The other big problem is common. If no-one has the expertise to front for TV news, all possible spokespeople run for the hills. This is hugely serious, particularly if it’s a sensitive issue, because showing empathy through a brief statement doesn’t work on TV. It appears as if no-one cares, and this does massive reputational damage.

Final word

The key is to have trained spokespeople who are competent, confident and ready to go at short notice. It’s the only way to secure that all important reputation.

As Warren Buffett famously said: “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.”

Pete Burdon is founder and head trainer at Media Training NZ and author of ‘Media Training for Modern Leaders’. Download his free report, “The Media Interview Survival Guide” at https://www.mediatrainingnz.co.nz/

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Attain is a well-established company with expertise in B2B sales and marketing and is leading the charge on how Artificial Intelligence can be used in marketing. Now, Attain wants to walk together with Energi, with their joint commitment to be ‘powered by intelligence’ as the two companies’ guiding principle.

Attain’s CEO, Sharn Piper, expressed, “This strategic alliance with Energi is a fusion of our expertise with their creative mastery. We believe that in the rapidly evolving business landscape, this partnership enables us to harness change to a maximum, paving the way for innovation and provide future-proof solutions for our clients.”

For over 35 years, Energi has been one of New Zealand’s leading marketing agencies. Partnering with nationally acclaimed brands such as Coca-Cola, CottonSofts, and Musashi, Energi engineers market demand by strategically deploying creative activations, promotions, and systematic frameworks.

“As we face a future of Artificial Intelligence, our clients are now facing a myriad of new opportunities. Being in this industry as long as we have, we’ve seen disruption before, like we’re seeing with AI. We have recognised AI as being a superpower within Attain. Together with Attain, we can combine our strengths of craft and purpose to create a new agency and consultancy powerhouse,” says Energi co-owner Louise Bentley.

As part of this strategic alignment, Energi’s team will operate under the Attain brand while retaining their commitment to delivering high-quality services to their existing clientele, as well as to Attain’s customer base.

This consolidation enhances Attain’s capabilities with Energi’s unique expertise in creating innovative marketing strategies. It signifies both companies’ dedication to growth and evolution, broadening their service offerings and providing their clients with integrated, industry-leading expertise.

About Attain

Attain is a leading business consultancy firm that provides brand, marketing, leadership, and sales services to businesses across New Zealand and Australia. The firm’s team of experienced consultants helps clients develop and implement effective strategies, improve business processes, and drive growth and profitability.

About Energi

Energi is a leading shopper marketing agency that specialises in creating powerful demand chain programmes. With a focus on understanding shopper behaviour and creating a competitive advantage, Energi helps clients stand out and succeed in retail environments and digital stores.

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Henkel, a multinational company that imports and wholesales consumer goods such as hair products, toilet cleaners, laundry detergents and other household items, sought clearance from the commission to buy Earthwise brands in April.

The Earthwise range includes household cleaners, laundry and babycare products.

Commissioner Sue Begg said the commission was satisfied that the acquisition would not substantially lessen competition in the market.

“Our investigation found that Henkel and Earthwise are not close competitors and will continue to be constrained by several other prominent competitors in the national markets for the wholesale supply of laundry detergents, laundry pre-wash aids and toilet cleaners.

“We found that Henkel and Earthwise focus on different consumer preferences.

“Henkel is focused on products for price/quality conscious consumers, whereas Earthwise is focused on products for ‘eco-conscious’ consumers.”

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United Fresh President, Jerry Prendergast, says the raft of challenges facing the country’s growers mean consumers should be prepared for continued disruption to fresh produce pricing and availability.

“Cyclone Gabrielle has devastated orchards and crops around the North Island. While we still can’t assess the damage, particularly in the Hawkes Bay, every flood event can equate to months of lost production as well as disruption to key logistics such as transport and seasonal work,” says Prendergast.

“Costs are at an all-time high for the whole industry as we face increases in the price of fuel, fertiliser and labour. The unprecedented wet and windy weather systems have put more pressure on a supply chain that was already struggling,” he says.

“Kiwi growers and suppliers are resilient. There’s staff working up and down the country right now to get fresh fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and retailers.

“What we need is for consumers to be flexible with their meal planning, look for the affordable seasonal offerings and be prepared to try different varieties of produce if their family favourite is low in supply. Fresh fruit and vegetables in season still offer good value when compared to many other popular supermarket choices,” says Prendergast.

“As an example, February and March are a great time to try some of the summerfruit coming from Central Otago. Our South Island growers have had exceptional weather this year and the fruit has arrived in time to replace melon crops that will be affected by the rain,” he says.

More information about the monthly Food Price Index can be found on the StatsNZ Tatauranga Aotearoa website: https://www.stats.govt.nz/information-releases/food-price-index-january-2023/

About United Fresh

United Fresh New Zealand Incorporated is New Zealand’s only pan-produce industry organisation, and our vision is to help support a sustainable fresh fruit and vegetable industry in New Zealand.

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The Government has committed to ensuring mātauranga Maori is at the heart of celebrations of the Matariki public holiday. The rising of the star cluster known as Matariki signals the Māori New Year and it will be a time for:

• Remembrance – honouring those we have lost since the last rising of Matariki
• Celebrating the present – gathering together to give thanks for what we have
• Looking to the future – looking forward to the promise of a new year.

Rules for working on Matariki

Matariki is a standard national public holiday, and the normal public holiday rules will apply.

An employee has to work on a public holiday only if it is written into their employment contract, and it is a day they would normally work. If this is not the case, the employer may ask an employee to work on the public holiday, but they do not need to agree, and there should not be any consequences because of this. It is important for employers to respect an employee’s decision. 

The Matariki holiday will not always fall on the same date each year, just like Easter holidays. It will, however, always fall on a Friday.

Employees who work over the Matariki public holiday must:

• be paid at least time and a half
• if the Friday is a normal working day for them, be given a paid day off (also called a day in lieu, or an ‘alternative holiday’) at a date agreed by both parties.

Employees who are eligible for a day in lieu must be given a full day off no matter how many hours they worked on the public holiday.

They are not entitled to a day in lieu if:

• they only work on public holidays
• they were on call but didn’t have to work, and being on call did not stop them doing what they wanted to do with their day (for example, a doctor on call is not able to drink).

For more information on public holidays, and your rights and responsibilities, see:

Public holiday dates

Public holiday entitlements

Did you know?

Matariki is an abbreviation of ‘Ngā Mata o te Ariki Tāwhirimātea’ (‘The Eyes of the God Tāwhirimātea’) and refers to a large cluster of stars, also known as the Pleiades. 

The predawn rising of Matariki in the mid-winter sky marks the changing of the seasons and the beginning of the Māori New Year. Some iwi recognise this time of year by the appearance of Puanga, also known as Rigel. There are also regions where the setting of Rehua, also known as Antares, is used to identify the change of seasons.

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As part of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (NZIFST) Awards, the Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award recognises developments in a process or operation – either by an organisation, team or individual – to improve food safety in the food chain.

New Zealand Food Safety welcomes nominees who have:

•        made improvements in areas such as science and research, equipment or processing technology, product and packaging development, and industry best practice, or

•        built and maintained an effective food safety culture through staff engagement, leadership, or continual improvement.

“We are proud that New Zealand is home to many forward-thinking, solutions-oriented food safety champions, and we want to tell their stories through the Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award,” says New Zealand Food Safety’s Deputy Director General, Vincent Arbuckle.

“The success of our food safety system depends on the dedication and expertise of people throughout New Zealand’s food industry and it’s important to recognise the people and organisations that maintain and grow New Zealand’s strong reputation as a provider of safe and suitable food,” Arbuckle says.

To nominate individuals, teams, and/or organisations, visit Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award. Self-nominations are also accepted. Nominations close at 5pm on 3 June 2022.

The Award will be announced on 6 July at the 2022 NZIFST Conference, in Rotorua. The Significant Contribution to Food Safety Award winner will receive a trophy, and a 12-month NZIFST membership.

Previous winners of the Award are Denver McGregor (2021), Aaron Dodunski (2020), Rosie Waller (2019), Professor Nigel French (2018) and Dr Lesley Rhodes (2017).

Nelson-based McGregor was recognised for his commitment to maintaining a great food safety culture within his company and his contributions to Listeria monocytogenes management in the field.

Denver and his food safety team have been determined to find out as much as they can about this evolving pathogen to continue to provide safe and suitable products for their consumers. In 2018, Denver was the first in the New Zealand seafood industry to pioneer a Listeria Strategy Programme, involving genome sequencing, to better understand Listeria monocytogenes, its occurrence within the New Zealand King Salmon manufacturing environment, and find proven methods to control it.

This programme enables New Zealand King Salmon to accurately match a strain of Listeria back to the original source. The company is now able to use this technology and research findings to create methods to eliminate Listeria from the manufacturing environment.

If you have any questions, please email nzfsawards@mpi.govt.nz or call 0800 00 83 33.

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Lyn Mayes, Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme Manager says: “We are delighted to finally bring soft plastic recycling to the Wairarapa. This has been made possible because our partner, community enterprise Earthlink which is based in Lower Hutt, has extended their collection route. Earthlink will collect the plastic from stores, bale the bags and organise transport to Auckland where the soft plastic will be turned into fence posts by Future Post.” 

“This expansion means that almost 80 percent of New Zealanders now have access to soft plastic recycling within 20km of where they live or work, with almost 200 drop off locations.”

Adam Hall, Countdown Masterton Store Manager says: “It’s really exciting to be able to offer a soft plastic collection for the first time in Masterton. Our customers have been asking for a long time, so to be able to provide this service and help them, and our store, be more sustainable is a big win. Countdown has supported the Soft Plastic Recycling since it began and we’re proud to be the 100th Countdown store involved. We’re looking forward to rolling these bins out in even more parts of the country in the future.”                                                    

David Benattar, Chief Sustainability Officer, The Warehouse Group says the expansion of the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme in Masterton is another important step to making it easier and more accessible for Kiwis to recycle unwanted soft plastics. 

“We are excited to be providing this recycling service to our Masterton customers. Next time you visit The Warehouse, we’d love you to bring your soft plastic like bread bags or bubble wrap that we’ll help recycle and repurpose it into posts for vegetable gardens and fencing and avoid it going to landfill.”

“We’re pleased to be working together with our industry partners to provide easy ways for Kiwis to recycle soft plastics as it’s an important step towards creating a plastic-free Aotearoa. The Warehouse Masterton store joins 31 of our other stores nationwide participating in this programme, and through our network we’ve collected more than 8.8 million individual pieces of soft plastic in 2021,” says Benattar.

Soft plastic collected in the region will be recycled at Future Post’s plant in Waiuku, South Auckland. Jerome Wenzlick, Founder of Future Post says that the partnership with the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme benefits everyone.

“Every Future Post contains 1,500 bags and wrappers. So, every time Masterton shoppers fill one of the soft plastic collection bins, that’s another post off our production line which can come back to one of the many vineyards around the wine producing region,” says Wenzlick. 

“The introduction of soft plastic recycling in Masterton is the latest example of our commitment to leverage partnerships to overcome challenges and deliver industry led solutions,” says The Packaging Forum CEO Rob Langford. 

“In the past, growth was limited by our onshore processing capacity. However, Future Post has increased its production capabilities and there is new capacity now with SaveBoard in Hamilton entering the market for post-consumer soft plastics. Accordingly, the focus in 2022 is identifying logistics solutions to enable collection growth.” 

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Ian Turk, Manager of the New Zealand Persimmon Industry Council, says local growing operations have gone from strength to strength as New Zealanders discover the versatility of this colourful honey-sweet treat.

“Initially persimmons were grown commercially for export markets, Japan in particular, but these days a much larger volume of fruit is sold domestically. In fact, we’re excited to have seen an increase of 20 percent in just two years in the New Zealand market,” says Turk.

And while our persimmons are enjoyed by Kiwis, they’re just as popular overseas with around 12,500 tonnes at a value of $10 million set to be exported to Australia, South East Asia, Japan the United States and China this year.

“We’ve had an excellent season this year and are recovering well from the impact of a tough 2020 season. The combined issues of a COVID lockdown two weeks before harvest, lengthy drought conditions and air freight costs that quadrupled due to the pandemic meant some significant challenges. We’re heading into the 2021 season with greater confidence – not quite back to normal, but nearly there,” says Turk.

The persimmon is actually a berry fruit and packs a considerable nutrition punch as a source of dietary fibre, magnesium, Vitamins A and C and potassium. While the persimmon orginated in China, it has been grown in New Zealand since the 1870s, predominantly now in the Gisborne and Auckland regions. Locally-grown persimmons are in our supermarkets from May to June and 5+ A Day Project Manager Carmel Ireland says now is the perfect time to enjoy them.

“Fruit and vegetables are always best enjoyed in season. New Zealand persimmons are ripe when crisp and are so versatile. They can be eaten like an apple as the perfect on-the-go snack or used in a variety of dishes like salads, salsas, cheese boards and more,” says Ireland.

“Use them to bring a seasonal change to your salads or just add them to your breakfast, they pair beautifully with other autumn favourites such as apples, pears, cinnamon and citrus. I also love to bake them with a touch of honey and serve them with Greek yoghurt for a healthy dessert.

“Despite their sweet taste, persimmons are relatively low in calories and high in fibre making them a great healthy eating choice for the whole whānau. And, unlike many fruit, they are best stored at room temperature rather than in the fridge, so they’re easy to have on hand for an easy, nutritious snack,” says Ireland.

About 5+ A Day The 5+ A Day Charitable Trust was established in 2007 for the benefit of all Kiwis, especially children. The Trust is committed to increasing the consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables for better health in all New Zealanders. We encourage all Kiwis to eat five or more servings of colourful

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