Contact: Marti Pupillo
mpupillo@idfa.org
(202) 220-3535

(Washington, D.C. -- October 5, 2011) The National Cheese Institute is now accepting nominations for its highest honor, the NCI Laureate Award. The award winner will be recognized at a special ceremony during IDFA's Dairy Forum 2012, January 15-18, in La Quinta, Calif. Nominations must be submitted by November 4, 2011, and there is no fee to enter.

Candidates should be business or academic leaders who have made significant, prolonged contributions to the development and growth of the cheese industry. The award recipient is chosen by a panel of industry professionals based on a nominee's overall career achievements.

"The U.S. cheese industry continues to be driven by leaders who dedicate themselves to quality cheesemaking and innovation," said NCI President and CEO Connie Tipton. "We look forward to recognizing and rewarding those individual contributions with the presentation of the 2012 award."

Award winners have ranged from cheese company founders and marketers to dairy microbiologists. Previous winners of the NCI Laureate Award include Emanuele (Lino) Saputo, Mark Johnson, Jerome Schuman, Larry Ferguson, John Jeter, Mark Davis, Wes Allen, Elmer Marth, Max Gonzenbach, Rudy Nef, Betsy Holden, Don Menzner, Don Storhoff, Lester Kielsmeier, Hans Epprecht, Norm Olson, Vince Zehren, Jack Budahn, Leonard Gentine Sr., Raymond Goldbach, Harold Steinke, John Nelson and Dave Nusbaum.

This year's winner will receive free registration, airfare and hotel accommodations to IDFA's Dairy Forum, January 15-18, 2012, at the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, Calif., to attend the awards ceremony. (The winner will be responsible for all tax liabilities.) IDFA's Dairy Forum is widely regarded as the most important conference of the year for dairy processors, producers, suppliers and policy makers.

For more information and a nomination form, contact Tracy Boyle, IDFA director of boards and employee relations, at tboyle@idfa.org or visit www.idfa.org.

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The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies representing a $110-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's 220 dairy processing members run more than 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85% of the milk, cultured products, cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.