There’s still time to enter the Gold Medal Tea & Tea Sustainability Awards Competitions
Image: 20180425 AoT ©AudreyMa 0980
The 12th Annual North American Tea Conference (NATC) will be held in Miami, Florida, 4-6 October at the Kimpton Epic Hotel. The event alternates being organised by the Tea Association of the USA and the Tea and Herbal Association of Canada (THAC). Dubbed ‘Making Waves in Miami’, this year’s NATC is being hosted by the Tea Association of the USA.
Both the Gold Medal Tea Competition and the Tea Sustainability Awards will once again take place during the NATC.
The Gold Medal Tea Competition will judge teas from the same origin against each other in order identify and recognise ‘Gold Medal Teas’. Any and all origins entered will be judged — teas will be judged by origin regardless of production type or grade. It is up to the participating producer to decide what style of manufacture their entry should be. Teas will be judged purely on the ‘Best Cup per Origin’ basis. Submissions must be received by 25 August.
The Tea Sustainability Awards recognise all the hard work being put forth globally across the tea industry, to further the goals of sustainability. The purpose of these awards is to:
- Celebrate the work that goes above and beyond pure business metrics, to improve the health of the Industry, the environment in which it operates and the people who work in it or are associated with it.
- To share these efforts with the tea industry in order to build a shared responsibility, broaden and share knowledge of the state of the industry.
- To inspire others to replicate the ‘above and beyond’ attitude of recipients in their own environs and to further the efforts of moving tea to the status of Hero crop.
Because all positive actions have merit, Tea USA and THAC have changed the awards structure from that of prior years to be more inclusive and recognise a wider scope of participants so all entrants feel their work will be acknowledged and applauded.
The Sustainability Awards competition is free of charge and all sustainable efforts and submissions will be displayed at the conference. The deadline for submissions is 25 August.
“Whether you are attending the conference in person or from afar, we encourage all tea-producing nations to participate in our two competitions,” said Peter F Goggi, president, Tea Association of the USA.
This is the first in-person NATC to take place in the United States since 2019. For more information about or to register for the NATC, as well as to view competition rules and access submission forms, visit: teausa.com.
- Aubrye McDonagh Leigh
