An award-winning sausage is heading into production after success in a prestigious national competition.

The public will soon be able to taste for themselves what so impressed judges in the Meat Management magazine’s annual celebration of sausages.

Supreme sausage maker Blakemans – based in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire - entered their butchers’ select Cumberland sausage into the "traditional category” which attracts producers from all over the country.

And despite it being the first time they have ever entered an awards event of any kind – they beat off stiff competition to take the runner-up prize.

James Morris, Head of Business development at Blakemans said: "It is a fantastic achievement for our first time of asking. Competition is incredibly stiff in these awards with quality levels very, very high. So to get a runner-up award was a fantastic feeling for everyone at the company.

"We are now planning to make this 80 per cent meat Cumberland available to our customers – both in chilled and pre-cooked. The judges loved it so we are pretty sure our customers will too.”

The competition is run as part of UK Sausage Week – an event which celebrates the British public’s love of one of their favourite foods.

James said: "We had been working on this sausage as part of a product development initiative for one of our customers. We tasted it and knew it was really good so we decided to enter into the awards even though it isn’t something we have considered before. To get national recognition is fantastic and we are so proud.”