An early bird entry price of £99 for both competitions is now available until midnight on August 6. The cost then increases to £120 per entry. To enter your wines for People’s Choice Wine Awards click here and to enter the People’s Choice Spirits Awards click here.
Is there anything new about the People’s Choice Wine Awards we need to know about?
Janet Harrison founder of the People’s Choice Wine Awards with her awards partner Judy Kendrick
We have introduced four new categories this year.Our Easy Weekday and Treat Yourself categories have been extended to include supermarket own label wines.So, Easy Weekday White: Supermarket Own Label; Easy Weekday Red: Supermarket Own Label, Treat Yourself White/Red Supermarket Own Label (for wines over £15) have been added to the entry form.This is to reflect the importance of these ranges within major retail stores and reward the wine-buying teams involved.
We are thrilled to be working with Benchmark Drinks who will sponsor the Easy Weekday White: Supermarket Own Label white category. Paul Schaafsma, managing director of Benchmark Drinks said: “I am a big fan of The People’s Choice Wine Awards and have been from the very beginning. It has really shaken up the way that awards are run in the UK and offers great commercial opportunities to companies that enter. We are delighted to support this important new category and look forward to hearing the results.”
Are you offering bursaries to reduce the cost of entering?
Smurfit Kappa is once again offering a limited number of £40 bursaries to offset the cost of entering the boxed wine categories. They sponsor the Boxing Clever White/Rosé and Boxing Clever Red categories and here is a separate link to enter: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/bag-in-box-bursary/
This reduces the cost of entry to only £59, during the early bird period and £80 from August 7.
Anything about the People’c Choice Spirits Awards that is different?
The professional judges for the People’s Choice Spirits awards in 2023
The Spirits Awards is largely unchanged.As this competition is relatively new (compared with wines), we are looking forward to building the entries around our 17 drinking moment categories for Whisky/Whiskey, Rum, Vodka, Gin, Tequila and Mezcal, canned cocktails, no/low alcohol and ‘Home Serves’.
Anything else which is new?
Our core team has grown to include sales agents and admin support, to reflect the growth and popularity in the awards – particularly over the last year.The unique features of the competitions, particularly the innovative Drinks Finder has really ‘squared the circle’ in terms of a full package of support for those who enter the awards.This provides year-round marketing and promotion of all finalist and medal winning drinks.For those who don’t know, each producer/supplier has their own page with:
• An image of the wine or spirit
• The placing (medal) in the competition
• Useful judges’ comments (from consumers and professionals)
• A direct stockist link
The People’s Choice Drinks Awards Drinks Finder tool claims to be an industry first
The facility is provided free of charge to those entering the competition (included within the submission fee) and is the most pro-active direct to consumer promotional tool in the awards world, as far as we can see.This is over and above what you would expect to receive, from entering awards, such as stickers, promotional materials and social media coverage (but we offer those too)
The link to the Drinks Finder can be found here: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/drinks-finder/
We now have over 22,000 directly opted-in consumers on our database, an amazing figure, considering we only started the awards in 2017.This shows how popular the competitions are with wines and spirits buyers in the UK and that they are keen to know which companies win and where to buy their drinks.
Are you sticking with the format of having one awards ceremony for wines and spirits, despite them being separate competitions?
Yes, it was such a great success last time and despite the additional categories, the presentation itself wasn’t too long. We had great feedback and it made total sense, particularly for buying teams which span both wines and spirits.We’ve also kept the timeline the same for both competitions, in terms of entries and judging – it is much easier for people to remember.
You have a new venue for the 2024 awards?
The awards ceremony will be held at Revolution in Manchester on Tuesday February 27 2024.It is a really fun evening, where everyone can network in a relaxed environment, rather than being restricted to table seating.The move to Revolution, a couple of doors down from the original venue at The Comedy Store, reflects the need to keep things fresh, fun and not ‘stuffy’.It will again be MC’d by Matt White (Steph’s Packed Lunch and Manchester’s Finest).Music will be provided by one of last year’s winners, Damien Best, from Dedbest Gin (winner of The Story Behind the Label Video Challenge, sponsored by The Buyer), and his band members – expect indie music in the true spirit of Manchester.
Any changes to the judging?
The People’s Choice Drinks Awards are unique in having both professional and consumer wine judges. Photograph Steve Berry
Combining the consumer and professional judging sessions was a great hit.For consumers it is a real privilege and great learning experience to sit alongside wine buyers, sommeliers and wine educators. The professional panel loved it too – a unique opportunity to mingle with consumers and hear what they like and how they assess the drinks they buy. Most consumer judges are real enthusiasts and a good proportion have taken WSET qualifications as a hobby.
We will still have a second round of judging, in the event of close scoring and awarding specific Gold Commendations.As before, we only award one Bronze, one Silver and one Winners prize for each wine or spirits category, with Gold Commendations given for exceptional reasons – we generally only award two or these of these in each competition.
As before, we are delighted to be working with our official education partner, WSET and will be hosting both our wine and spirits judging sessions at the school in London towards the end of November 2023.The Manchester judging will be held around the same time.
The full timelines can be found here:
https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcsa/timeline/
https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/timeline/
- The Buyer is media partner to both the People’s Choice Wine and Spirits awards.
