Award Winning Olive Oil: What NYIOOC Medals Really Mean
Not every medal on an olive oil label means the same thing. NYIOOC, TerraOlivo, London IOOC and Great Taste judge differently, score differently and carry different weight, so we break down what each one actually verifies, and which standards Oleum Crete's own awards meet.
In this article7 sections
Key takeaways
- The NYIOOC (New York International Olive Oil Competition) is judged blind by trained international panels against strict chemical and sensory benchmarks. Most specialists look for it first.
- A medal certifies the chemistry and taste of the oil submitted that year. It does not guarantee the freshness of the bottle you later take off a shelf.
- TerraOlivo, London IOOC and Great Taste each differ in panel size, regional focus and scoring format, so a Gold from one is not directly comparable to a Gold from another.
- Oleum Crete's single-estate Koroneiki, grown on Crete's Messara Plain, has been recognised across NYIOOC, TerraOlivo, London IOOC and Great Taste.
- Before you trust a medal, check the competition name, year and category printed on the label, not just the words "award-winning".
What "Award Winning Olive Oil" Actually Means
An award winning olive oil is one that a named competition has judged, in a specific year and category, to meet its standard for extra virgin quality and flavour. That is the whole definition. A medal belongs to one sample, one harvest and one panel. It is not a permanent badge on the brand.
At Oleum Crete we treat our medals as evidence, and we think every shopper should read them that way. The same bar applies to any single-estate oil pressed on the Messara Plain: judges taste for green tomato, garden herb and a peppery finish before they ever glance at the label. What a medal means depends on who awarded it. Some competitions are run only for olive oil and use trained tasters working to a formal sensory method. Others are fine-food awards that judge olive oil alongside cheese, chocolate and coffee. Both can be valuable, but they confirm different things.
A medal also sits on top of other guarantees rather than replacing them. A protected designation of origin tells you where the olives grew and how the oil was made. An award tells you how that oil tasted to a panel in a given year. If you want the first half of that picture, read our guide to what the PDO Messara seal guarantees.
Inside the NYIOOC: the World's Largest Olive Oil Competition
The NYIOOC is the competition most producers want to win and most specialists check first. Two things explain its standing: its size and its method.
Who judges NYIOOC entries
Entries go to an international panel of trained olive oil tasters. The judging is blind, so tasters see a coded sample and never the brand, the bottle or the country of origin. The field is large. The 2026 Northern Hemisphere NYIOOC drew 1,021 olive oils from producers in 29 countries. Italy won the most awards that year with 166, and Greece won 106, ahead of the United States with 95 and Spain with 85.
What NYIOOC panels test for
An entry has to qualify as extra virgin before its flavour is judged at all. Tasters then assess the positive attributes that define good oil:
- Fruitiness: the green or ripe aromas of fresh olives, such as cut grass, green tomato, artichoke or almond.
- Bitterness: felt on the tongue, linked to the oil's natural phenolic compounds.
- Pungency: the peppery catch at the back of the throat, another sign of fresh, phenol-rich oil.
- Balance and complexity: how well those elements sit together and how long they last.
Panels also look for defects. Notes such as fusty, musty, winey or rancid point to poor fruit, slow processing or oxidation, and an oil showing them cannot win.
Why NYIOOC medals carry weight worldwide
Scale makes a medal hard to fake and easy to check. The organiser publishes its results. Its official statistics show 11,701 total entries, 4,832 Gold Awards and 2,355 Silver Awards across 37 countries since the competition began.
The NYIOOC's associated ranking also rewards consistency over a single good year. Under the producer ranking system, a Gold earns 1.00 point and a Silver 0.75. A producer that also won the previous year receives 7.25 bonus points, and brand listings include only brands with five or more awards. One medal is a good sign. A run of medals over several harvests is a far stronger one.
TerraOlivo, London IOOC and Great Taste: How the Judging Differs
Plenty of labels carry medals from more than one competition, so it helps to know what each one is. The NYIOOC, TerraOlivo and London IOOC are dedicated olive oil competitions. Great Taste is a broad fine-food award. Panel sizes, regional emphasis and scoring formats all vary, so treat each medal on its own terms.
| Competition | What it judges | Regional focus | Judging format | Award structure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NYIOOC | Olive oil only | Global, with separate Northern and Southern Hemisphere editions | Blind sensory panels of trained tasters | Gold and Silver, published with results each year |
| TerraOlivo | Olive oil only | Mediterranean, with international entries | Blind sensory panels | Tiered medals; check the organiser's published scale |
| London IOOC | Olive oil only | Global | Blind sensory panel | Tiered medals; check the organiser's published scale |
| Great Taste | All fine food and drink | UK-run, international entries | Blind tasting by food-industry judges | 1, 2 or 3 stars |
TerraOlivo's Mediterranean focus
A TerraOlivo award tells you the oil has been judged in a competition whose outlook is shaped by the Mediterranean, the heartland of olive growing. For a Cretan oil that is a meaningful setting: it competes against producers who know the region's varieties intimately, rather than being judged as an exotic outlier.
London IOOC's global sensory panel
The London IOOC judges oils from many growing regions and scores them on sensory quality. It gives a second, independent olive-oil-specialist view. When an oil wins in both New York and London, two separate panels have reached the same conclusion about it.
Great Taste's blind food-industry judging
Great Taste is run by the Guild of Fine Food. Judges taste blind and score flavour above all. About 25 to 30% of entries receive 1 star, for excellent flavour, and only about 10% reach 2 stars, "outstanding". Three stars go to an even smaller share. Because the panel judges the whole of fine food, a Great Taste award tells you an oil stands out as food, not only within its own category.
Gold, Silver and Best in Class: Reading a Medal Correctly
The meaning of an olive oil medal depends on how the tiers work. Most shoppers assume Gold means first place. At most olive oil competitions it does not.
What the score behind a medal represents
Olive oil competitions mostly award medals against a threshold rather than ranking entries against each other. Every oil that clears the Gold bar receives Gold. The NYIOOC figures show this clearly. With 4,832 Golds from 11,701 entries, roughly four in ten entries have won Gold, and Gold has been awarded far more often than Silver. A Gold says the oil passed a high quality bar. It does not say the oil beat every other entry.
Some competitions also name category winners, often called Best in Class or a similar title, for the top-scoring oil in a style or region. Those titles are rarer and more comparative than a standard Gold. Read the exact wording, because naming varies from show to show.
What a medal does not tell you
A medal is a snapshot of a sample. It cannot tell you:
- How fresh your bottle is. Olive oil loses aroma and phenolic compounds over time. A medal from an earlier harvest says nothing about the oil in today's bottle.
- How it was stored. Heat and light speed up oxidation. In the UAE climate, a bottle that sat in a hot warehouse or a sunlit shop window can taste flat long before its best-before date.
- Whether the bottle matches the sample. A brand that blends oils from several sources can win with one lot and sell another.
This is why a medal works best alongside traceability, a clear harvest date and careful handling.
Where Oleum Crete Fits in the Medal Table
Our Koroneiki oil, grown single-estate on Crete's Messara Plain, has been recognised across the NYIOOC, TerraOlivo, London IOOC and Great Taste. Measured against everything above, each medal confirms something different: the NYIOOC confirms it passed blind tasting by trained olive oil specialists against the world's largest field, TerraOlivo confirms it held its own among Mediterranean producers, London IOOC adds an independent specialist panel, and Great Taste confirms it stands out to food-industry judges tasting across every category, not just olive oil.
What we weigh most is repetition across harvests, in line with how the NYIOOC ranking itself rewards producers who return year after year rather than coasting on one good lot. For the designation behind our estate, see our guide to what the PDO Messara seal guarantees. The same single-estate Koroneiki is also presented in the Collection Premium range.
How to Spot a Meaningless Medal on a Supermarket Bottle
Anyone comparing the best olive oil brands in the UAE will find medals on all kinds of labels. Some are earned and verifiable. Others are vague, out of date or invented. Use these three checks on any bottle, ours included.
Check the competition name and year
A real award has a name and a year. "Gold Award" with no competition named, or a generic gold seal, proves nothing. Once you have the name and year, look up the organiser's published results. If the oil and producer do not appear, treat the claim as unproven. A medal from a much older harvest tells you little about oil bottled since.
Check the category, not just the word gold
Competitions judge by category, such as intensity (delicate, medium or robust), variety, region, or organic and conventional oils. A Gold in a small category is still a Gold, but the category should match the oil in your hand. Look out for medals awarded to a brand's other product, a different size or a flavoured oil.
Check the medal against the label's other claims
A medal should agree with everything else on the label. An award-winning extra virgin oil should name its origin clearly. A single estate, a single region or a protected designation is a good sign, while "a blend of EU and non-EU oils" is a weaker one. Look for a harvest or bottling date, and check that the oil comes in a dark bottle or tin. If the medal is the only specific detail on the label, be cautious. For a fuller method, see our guide to verifying authenticity before you buy.
Frequently asked questions
What is the NYIOOC and why is it considered the most prestigious olive oil award?
The NYIOOC is the New York International Olive Oil Competition, the largest olive oil competition in the world. In 2026 its Northern Hemisphere edition judged 1,021 oils from 29 countries. Entries are tasted blind by trained international panels, and results are published, so any medal claim can be checked.
Does an olive oil medal expire?
The medal itself stays on the record, but what it proves is tied to one year's oil. It confirms the quality of the sample submitted from that harvest, not the freshness of a bottle bought later. Always pair a medal with a recent harvest or bottling date.
What's the difference between a Gold and a Silver medal in olive oil competitions?
Both are awarded against score thresholds, and Gold requires the higher score. At the NYIOOC, Gold has historically been awarded more often than Silver, so a Gold means the oil cleared a high quality bar rather than finishing first. In the NYIOOC producer ranking, a Gold earns 1.00 point and a Silver 0.75.
Can a supermarket olive oil be both award-winning and low quality?
Yes. A brand can win with one lot and sell another, especially if it blends oils from several sources. Poor storage, heat or age can also flatten an oil that once won. A medal is most reliable when the oil is traceable to a single source and carries a clear harvest date.
How can I check whether an olive oil award is genuine?
Find the competition name, year and category on the label. Then search the organiser's published results for the producer and the specific oil. If any of those details is missing or the oil does not appear in the results, treat the claim with caution.
Taste the difference for yourself: shop Oleum Crete's single-estate Messara pressings and judge the medals against the oil in the glass.
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