The 2024 New Zealand Sausage Competition has been won by Westmere Butcher in Auckland.

It’s official: Westmere Butchery has won the top prize at this year’s sausage awards for its pork and leek version.

A historic Auckland business has won the Supreme Award at the 2024 Great New Zealand Dunningham Sausage Competition, presented at an industry event in Auckland on Tuesday night.

What makes a winning hook? The judges praised Westmere Butchery’s classic flavor combination. Katie Paterson noted that the “perfectly cooked” leeks gave the sausage an exceptional texture, calling it a “truly tasty sausage”. Judge Brian Everton praised its technical excellence: “the ingredients in the sausage are well balanced and evenly distributed.”

More than 800 fireworks, snags, nerlers, meatballs and cutlets from 108 enterprises competed in 16 categories: 13 for sausages and three sections for minced meat.

The trial took place in two stages. The first took eight days, with a 34-person panel assessing ingredients, taste, texture and appearance. The entries in the categories with the most points advanced to the next round, where they competed for the Supreme Award.