The Provincial Council of Castellón and the Intercoop Foundation have approved the rules of the second prize for the quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oils (EVOO) for the campaign 2022/2023, an initiative that includes four awards for the best products in the categories of Aove bitter green fruity, sweet ripe, organic and single variety of native variety of Castelló.

As stated in the rules, the contest is open to all oil companies that have their headquarters in the province of Castellón, areas of olive production and processing and packaging of EVOO. Only oils made from olives from the counties of Castellón will be admitted to the contest, so in the event that the origin of the province could not be demonstrated, the sample would be disqualified.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil must comply with the requirements of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2104 of 29 June 2022, a regulation on the characteristics of olive oils.

The rules determine that the oils presented must come exclusively from deposits owned by the contestant company and, in the case of organic oil, will have to provide the certificate of conformity for organic EVOO.

A sample consisting of two products, in two original containers of at least 500 milliliters of capacity each for each reference with which you want to participate, will be submitted to the contest. The application form must be completed via the Intercoop Foundation website in the section: 2nd EVOO Prize of the Province of Castelló.

Deadline

The deadline for the registration of samples, free of charge for all participating companies, opened on April 16 until May 16, 2023. After the deadline for receipt of samples, they will be sent to each of the members of the jury. The winning EVOOs will be announced by the Diputación de Castelló through social networks, website and/or communication by e-mail or telephone.

The tasting of the oils will be carried out by qualified members belonging to official tasting panels, reputable experts in the EVOO sector, as well as a representative of the Diputación de Castelló. The composition of the jury will be announced on the award website.

Awards

The jury reserves the right to leave any of the categories vacant or to award the same prize to several oils. Once the jury’s decision has been published, the date and place of the public award ceremony will be announced.

The prize will consist of the delivery of a trophy in plaque format and stickers with the distinctive to identify the winning lot. The Diputación de Castellón may purchase bottles of the award-winning oils up to a maximum of 500 € plus VAT for each category of prize or similar.

The winners of the categories may mention the prize on the label of the lot to which the winning sample belongs and in the advertising of the product (website, etc.) of the winning entity, indicating the campaign. The format for the mention of the award will be provided by Diputación de Castelló, which may also disseminate the award-winning oils by any means it deems appropriate.