Chilmark’s Grey Barn Farm earned first prize honors for their Prufrock cheese at the 2016 American Cheese Society Competition in Des Moines, Iowa.

The American Cheese Society’s 2016 competition judged over 1,800 different cheeses in dozens of distinct categories. The competition only accepts cheeses produced from North, South or Central American milk sources and cheeses submitted in their original form.

Grey Barn’s Prufrock beat out hundreds of products created from a variety of dairy animals in the Farmstead category of cheeses aged less than 60 days.

“The Prufrock was the first cheese that we really chose to sell commercially,” said Grey Barn co-owner Eric Glasgow, noting the cheese’s significance. “It was the first cheese we really put out there to the general public.”

Eric and his wife Molly moved to Martha’s Vineyard with their two sons in the summer of 2009. They built Grey Barn with the intention of re-starting the century-old dairy farm located on the old Rainbow Farm in Chilmark. The farm is host to 25 Dutch Belted grass fed cows, which supply the milk for cheesemaker Lindsay Klaunig and her crew to transform into the farm’s various products.

Mr. Glasgow said he had entered three of the farm’s cheeses — Bluebird, Eidolon and Prufrock — in last year’s competition held in Providence, R.I. but came home empty handed. He wasn’t able to make the trip to Iowa this year, and so the win came as a pleasant surprise.

“It’s nice to just be acknowledged,” he said.

The Grey Barn Farm stand is located at 22 South Road in Chilmark. Products are also available at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market and local stores.