Sister publication to the Australian & New Zealand Grapegrower & Winemaker, The Wine & Viticulture Journal, has taken home the win for Best Wine Publication (Trade or Technical) at the 2019 Wine Communicator Awards.
Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) announced the winners of the 2019 Wine Communicator Awards’ eleven categories, including the Wine Communicator of the Year, at Handpicked Cellar Door, in Chippendale, Sydney.
The annual awards recognise outstanding contribution to, and excellence in, wine communication in all its forms.
Now in its 10th year, the Wine Communicator Awards continues to expand with a best wine student category being added, making it ten individual awards categories alongside the overall Wine Communicator of the Year.
Over 15 experienced and respected wine industry professionals were selected to judge a record number of entries. The New Wine Writer of the Year Award is judged independently.
The category award winners are:
- Best Wine Public Relations Campaign (Individual or Team) – Barossa Grape & Wine Association
- Best Published Featured Articles or Wine Columns – Nick Ryan
- Best Digital Wine Communicator – Jane Thomson – The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society
- Best Wine Website or Wine App – Barossa Grape & Wine Association
- Best Wine Student – Emily A. Palmer
- Best Wine Educator – Armando Maria Corsi
- Best Wine Book (Technical, Trade or Consumer) – The Highly Improbable Audacious Adventures of Wirra Wirra 1894 and 2019
- Best Wine Publication (Technical or Trade) – Wine & Viticulture Journal
- Best Wine Publication (Consumer) – Gourmet Traveller WINE
- Best New Wine Writer – The Four Seasons by Stuart Smith
WCA chair Toni Carlino said, “The awards ceremony was a fantastic culmination of this year’s highly successful Awards, and we wish to say a special thank you to everybody who applied in the 2019 Wine Communicator Awards”.
“The calibre of entries continues to impress our judges. We would also like to thank Handpicked Wines for sharing their luxurious Cellar Door with us and for their exceptional service,” Carlino said.
“The Awards continue to be the most important event on the annual WCA calendar – certainly in terms of who WCA are, what we stand for and our aspirations for the future.”
The overall Wine Communicator of the Year is chosen by the WCA board from the category of winners.
Previous winners have included Max Allen, Gourmet Traveller WINE, Tyson Stelzer, Jeni Port, Huon Hooke, Jane Ferrari, James Halliday and Campbell Mattinson.
This year, the Wine Communicator of the Year was awarded to the Barossa Grape and Wine Association (BGWA).
This is the first time BGWA has entered the awards, and they have taken out not one but two of the award categories as well as the respected Wine Communicator of the Year Award.
Judges’ comments regarding the application from BGWA were united and the resoundingly positive feedback, highlighting that both the BGWA website and public relations campaign were impressively well planned, fully integrated maximising all facets of the marketing mix and benefited the wider Barossa Valley community.
“BGWA are extremely worthy of their honour and are a true reflection of the current success of the wine sector in the Barossa Valley,” said Carlino.
This is the second time an organisation has been the recipient of the Wine Communicator of the Year Award.
In 2016 Gourmet Traveller WINE was the first organisation to win this prestigious award.
