The Buyer | Early bird discounts in People’s Choice Wine & Spirits Awards 2026

To enter your wines or spirits for the competitions click here:

People’s Choice Wine Awards: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/enter-the-wine-awards/

People’s Choice Spirits Awards: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcsa/enter-the-spirits-awards/

You had a new venue for the ceremony in Manchester last year, how did that work out?

Yes, we moved to New Century and the whole evening took place in the foodhall there.It was, in everyone’s opinion, the best year yet. The building and atmosphere is very much in keeping with the ethos of the awards, and has an informal setting with plenty of opportunities to meet and chat to all the entrants, judges and buying teams who came to celebrate their medals.

It really is the best night out on the awards circuit and even includes Damain Best from DedBest Distillery and his excellent covers band.

We’ve re-booked the same venue for 2026 and the ceremony will be held on Monday March2026. Expect more of the same, but with a few surprises too. We’ll also have the fantastic Kate Goodman, Reserve Wines and Dave Marsland, Manchester Rum Festival to front the presentation as they did an amazing job last time.

The awards really are the “People’s Choice” as you have a lot of everyday drinkers taking part in the judging - but you also rely on professional drinks trade judges too?

Approximately 30% of our judging panels are made up of industry professionals. They are a mixture of respected buyers (e.g. Ocado, Waitrose, Booths), sommeliers from around the UK, independent retailers, importers and distributors as well as high profile drinks journalists across wines and spirits and PR companies.

They love the process as they get to hear first- hand what consumers think about the wines and spirits being assessed, and how they communicate their opinions.And non-trade judges always say they learn so much from the process, it really is a win-win situation.

Most consumer judges have achieved WSET qualifications in their spare time, such is their enthusiasm. There area also a lot of WSET Diploma students who are keen to take part and test their knowledge during the sessions – at the moment there are very few opportunities for them to do this and it is a valuable experience for them, particularly if they are wanting a career in the drinks industry.

Our partnership with the WSET School remains strong and we are so grateful to them for letting us use their fantastic facilities for the two days of the judging (this time on January 13-14 2026).

Do you have any new categories in the People’s Choice Wine Awards?

The new categories we introduced for the on-trade (Best House Wine and Sommeliers Choice) were popular and has prompted an increase in on-trade suppliers wanting to send in wines for the competition in 2026.Whilst the awards has never been purely for off-trade, it seems to be the way the submissions have grown – so mainly for wines available in shops and online.However, with restaurants and bars having the ability to promote their medals on wine lists and sommeliers or wine advisors in a position to explain the story behind the medal (particularly geared towards consumer focused drinking moments), it is also very pertinent to them too.

We may be introducing more Gold Commended medals this year. So far, we’ve only awarded a handful of these for very close scoring, still maintaining our three medal structure for each category – i.e. we have only awarded one bronze, one silver and one winners medal, meaning each category is very hard fought.

However, as the competition has grown, particularly in recent years and with so many great wines to celebrate, it is likely that we may have a Gold Commended for each category, but we are still considering this at the moment – watch this space. We don’t want to be awarding lots of medals for the sake of it, otherwise they become worthless.

And for the People’s Choice Spirits Awards?

We had a refresh of the categories for the 2025 competition and this worked well, particularly for the ‘Cocktail Hour’ categories across tequila, rum and premium RTD cocktails.They are so popular and it makes for a really interesting judging session with our spirits judges too.

The Aperitivo Time we introduced last time for vermouth and light aperitifs was also well supported. It’s interesting that these lighter drinks are becoming ever more popular with consumers.

The same applies to our ‘Alcohol Free Zone’ entries, which were almost double the amount of the previous year.There are some fantastic no and low options available which is very much reflected in the submission numbers.

We have had some great support from judges who are part of spirits clubs, such as Julian Vallis and Sandra Lim, founders of World Martini Day and The Martini Club, who are big supporters of the concept behind the PCDA. They are keen to promote the competition to producers and to have some ‘live cocktail action’at the awards ceremony next year.

The awards has grown organically and in the process, has attracted its own following from consumers and trade who really believe in its ethos – it has been so encouraging to see this community grow and for many of the judges and supporters to become friends – something we hadn’t anticipated at all.

Anything else which is new?

The detailed consumer and professional judging comments and feedback on all the wines and spirits submitted to the competition, available on request, has been a huge hit.We are also able to give points (the scores for each wine and spirit) from 2026.

It is something we’ve been asked for and it is easy to pass on from the judging forms. It is hugely valuable to know what consumers and trade judges had to say and for suppliers, they can use this information in marketing messaging, to gain feedback on new blends/styles and how they resonate with the average buyer.

This sort of information is generally only available, with large associated costs via dedicated research projects. All of this information is included free (within the cost of the submission fee), which represents amazing value.

We’ve also taken the decision to provide artwork for stickers free of charge. Whilst other competitions can and do make money on the sale of stickers, it is more important for us that producers and suppliers can promote their drinks effectively and at minimal cost.

The artwork (roundel) has to be agreed with the organisers first, but then winners are able to use this for printing or for use on marketing materials and websites.We just ask that they send us any great images of the bottles, boxes or cans on the shelves, sporting our PCDA stickers we love to see them!!

* To enter your wines or spirits for the competitions click here:

People’s Choice Wine Awards: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/enter-the-wine-awards/

People’s Choice Spirits Awards: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcsa/enter-the-spirits-awards/

Early Bird entries only £99 until midnight on 1st September. Price increases to £120 from 2nd September.

The full timeline can be found here (the same dates apply for both competitions): https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/timeline/

The awards ceremony will be held at New Century in Manchester on March 9.