Croatian cheese producers have won eight medals at the World Cheese Awards 2011.

The largest and most diverse cheese competition in the world took place at the UK’s biggest consumer food exhibition, the BBC Good Food Show, at the NEC Birmingham from November 23-27.

Sirana Gligora from the island of Pag won super gold medal for “Zigljen” cheese, while gold and bronze medals were awarded for “Paski Sir”.

Vindija from Varazdin won gold medal for “Capron” cheese. Paska sirana from the island of Pag won four medals. Silver medals were awarded for “Paska Sir”, “Pramenko” and “Dalmatinac”. Bronze medal was awarded to “Dalmatinac”. 

This year’s World Champion was a French cheese Ossau Iraty from farmhouse producer Fromagerie Agour, which also took the top title in 2006 with the same variety.

Philip Stansfield‘s Cornish Blue took the second spot, with third going to a limited edition Cognac BellaVitano from Sartori Cheeese in Wisconsin, USA.

The World Cheese Awards have run for more than 20 years and is the largest cheese competition in the world. Last year’s event attracted over 2,500 entries from 34 countries and was judged by over 200 expert buyers from every corner of the globe.