Australian Grand Dairy Awards 2024: preview from judge Russell Smith

As this year’s Australian Grand Dairy Awards approach, chief judge Russell Smith previews what’s in store.

less than 2 min read

January 19, 2024 - 5:00AM

The Weekly Times

Queensland has the nation’s ice cream competition licked, dominating the dessert category finalists ahead of the 2024 Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

The Sunshine State has secured five out of the six ice-cream and gelati places ahead of the Melbourne awards night, which will take place early next month.

Floridia and That’s Amore Cheese will fly the flag for the Garden State on February 1, with world-beating Gippsland cheesemakers Berrys Creek also in the running at the 2024 event after several big wins in recent years.

Grand Dairy Awards chief judge Russell Smith said the 2024 event highlighted how far Australian cheese had developed in the past quarter-century since it was first staged.

“Particularly in the Italian-style cheeses, in the last decade, Australian-based makers have expanded their range and have improved the quality enormously,” he said.

“In semi-hard and eye cheese – one of the finalists I actually rang up and told them ‘ this is one of the best cheeses I’ve judged anywhere in the world’ when we were judging in October, so that’s pretty exciting.”

Australian Grand Dairy Awards chief judge Russell Smith. Picture: Tony Gough

Now in their 25th year, the awards have been organised by Dairy Australia since its inception but the 2024 event will be co-managed by Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne’s royal agricultural societies for the first time.

“Australian Grand Dairy Awards is unique in that as far as I know it’s the only competition around the world — and I judge cheese around the world — that you have to have won a gold medal at a state-based competition to enter,” Mr Smith said.

“We have a panel of usually 10 to 12 judges to adjudicate on the dairy products and 10 to 12 judges covering the cheese categories. That’s a huge number of judges judging every product – it’s a real strength of the Grand Dairy Awards.

“We have combination of aesthetic judges, people in the retail side, and people who are dairy food scientists. We have a 50-50 balance of people who know the technical, scientific side and then judges who know cheese very well from the retail and consumer side.”