Tillamook County Creamery Association (TCCA) returned from the National Milk Producers Federation’s (NMPF) annual meeting held Nov. 12-14 in Orlando, Fla., with several new awards of excellence for cheese, communication and advertising.

Tillamook cheese products placed highly among the other national cooperatives that entered NMPF’s annual cheese contest. Tillamook’s Vintage White Medium cheddar took first in the medium cheddar category for the second year in a row, and the traditional Medium cheddar won second in the same category. The new smoked black pepper cheddar received third place in the unique or flavored category. This is the second award this year for the smoked black pepper cheddar, which also received a third place at the American Cheese Society contest in August.

“It’s a team effort to produce award-winning cheese,” said Harold Strunk, TCCA’s president and CEO. “It starts at the farm with high quality milk, and continues with a team of dedicated employees. Winning awards like these demonstrates TCCA’s continued commitment to producing high quality, great tasting cheese.”

A panel of expert evaluators assesses and scores the cheese entries based on different quality attributes such as flavor, body and texture, and color and appearance. In the cheddar categories, judges also look for a balanced cheddar flavor, not bitter, sour or another "off" flavor; they look for good body and textures that would allow for melting and slicing, and an appearance that is typical of the cheese being evaluated.

In addition to the cheese contest, TCCA also participated in NMPF’s annual communications competition, which recognizes excellence among NMPF dairy cooperative communicators. Entries are submitted in a variety of categories such as special projects, writing and publications.

This year, TCCA won five awards. In the print advertising, the two new advertising campaigns won. First place went to the Vintage White campaign, which is designed for foodie-type magazines such as Food & Wine, and the new general consumer campaign, which is designed for family-style magazines such as Better Homes & Gardens, won second place. TCCA’s internal campaign that was designed to accompany the Association’s overall participation in the KGW Great Food Drive, won first place for campaign and Best of Class in the special projects category. Finally, Chandra Allen, TCCA communications specialist, received third place for a news story.

TCCA continues its long tradition of creating award winning cheddar, and other cheese and dairy products.

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The Tillamook County Creamery Association, formed as a cooperative in 1909, has earned a reputation as one of the nation's premier brands of cheese. Tillamook is a national marketer of naturally aged cheddar and a variety of other cheeses, butter, and an extensive line of premium ice cream, sour cream and yogurt.