The search is on for the best writing about beer and pubs, as the British Guild of Beer Writers opens its annual awards, offering a total prize fund of £11,000 to the winning journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and other communicators.
2017 winners
Entries are invited between now and 7 September and will be judged on how well they further the Guild’s mission “to extend public knowledge and appreciation of beer and pubs”.
Judges this year are: Amy Bryant, food editor at The Telegraph; James Cuthbertson, MD of Dark Star Brewery and founder of the Beer & Cider Marketing Awards; Stu McKinlay, co-founder of Yeastie Boys; Jenn Merrick, founder of Earth Station Brewery; Zoe Smith, retail correspondent at The Guardian and Mark Taylor, Bristol-based food and drink writer. The current Beer Writer of the Year, Adrian Tierney-Jones, chairs the panel.
Guild of Beer Writers chairman Tim Hampson said, “We are excited about embarking once again on our annual awards, which not only reward those who excel in their field, but also help to raise the public profile of beer and pubs.
“As the UK’s beer and pubs sector develops, so too do our awards. We are delighted to be introducing a new award this year in conjunction with Britain’s Beer Alliance, which recognises the vital role that pubs play at the heart of our communities. We look forward to receiving entries to this category that celebrate all that is great about the British pub.”
Entries are invited in nine categories, each carrying a prize of £1,000 for the winner and £500 for the runner-up, with the exception of the Best Writer about Pubs and Best Citizen Beer Communicator awards, which give one prize of £1,000 only, and the Corporate Communications category, where entries are submitted by organisations rather than individuals and the winner receives a trophy.
The categories:
- Greene King Award for Best Beer Writer, National Media
- Adnams Award for Best Beer Writer, Regional Media
- Fuller’s London Pride Award for Best Beer Writer – Trade Media
- Heineken Award for Best Beer Communicator – Online
- St Austell Brewery Award for Best Young Beer Writer
- Britain’s Beer Alliance Award for Best Writer about Pubs
- Guild Award for Best Beer and Travel Writer
- Guild Award for Best Beer Writer – Corporate Communications
- Guild Award for Best Beer Citizen Communicator
The Guild will publish a shortlist for all nine categories in November, while the winner and runner up for each will be unveiled at the Guild of Beer Writers annual awards dinner on 22 November at the Chelsea Harbour Hotel. One overall Beer Writer of the Year will receive the Michael Jackson Gold Tankard Award and the Guild also bestows the Brewer of the Year title on one brewer at the same event.
Full details of all nine categories in the Awards, and advice on how to submit entries, can be found on the Guild’s website. Entries must be received by the closing date of Friday 7 September and must have been published between 1 September 2017 and 31 August 2018.