American Wine Blog Awards Background

Posted by Tom Wark on Dec 11, 2006

Initial Background on…
THE AMERICAN WINE BLOG AWARDS

Nominations for The American Wine Blog Awards will begin being accepted in early January 2007. Presented here is some initial background to the AWBA.

PURPOSE
The AWBA exist to encourage the proliferation of high quality, thoughtful and innovative wine-related communications using the Blog format. By recognizing the best wine blogs in a number of categories, we hope to persuade all wine bloggers (and wine bloggers to-be) to produce high quality contributions to the wine writing genre.

CATEGORIES

1. Best Wine Blog
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts is eligible to be awarded “Best Wine Blog”. The winner of this award will have delivered an overall wine blog experience that continually entertains and educates its readers; the winner will have brought an independence of thought and originality of thought to their wine blog. The quality of the writing, content and visual presentation of the “Best Wine Blog” will be of a very high quality. This Blog should have the potential to compete with other high quality wine information resources in any other medium.

2. Best Wine Review Blog
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts is eligible to be awarded Best Wine Review Blog. The winner of this Award will have served its readers by providing independent, informed and well-presented reviews and recommendations for wines as a primary part of their blog.  The entire presentation of the review, from description, rating and graphics, will be taken into account.

3. Best Graphics on a Wine Blog
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts is eligible to be awarded Best Graphics on a Wine Blog. Blogs that go the extra mile to present a compelling visual experience for their readers help demonstrate the potential of the blogging format. The winner of this award should have made an extra effort to present its subject matter in a highly visual and graphic manner that is both entertaining, educational and thought provoking.  Outstanding photography and graphic imagery that is used to support posts is the main focus of this Award

4. Best Wine Blog Writing
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts is eligible to be awarded Best Wine Blog Writing. The winner of this award will have delivered outstanding prose and an entertaining writing style to convey original ideas.

5. Best Single-Subject Wine Blog
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts is eligible to be awarded Best Single-Subject Wine Blog. The winner of this award must have as the focus of their blog a narrowly tailored subject matter. It might focus on an appellation or region, a particular varietal, wines from a particular store, wines of a particular price range or on a particular sector of the wine industry (excluding winery-run blogs). The winner will have done the best job of illuminating the particular and specific wine subject on which they’ve chosen to concentrate.

6. Best Winery Blog
Any wine blog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least 52 posts and is the product of a winery is eligible to be awarded Best Winery Blog. The winner of this award will have done the best work presenting wine-related subject matter from the perspective of a wine producer. The winner will have utilized their unique position in the industry to produce a distinctive experience for the reader that both educates and entertains.

7. Best Wine-Related Podcast or VideoBlog
Any wine-related podcast or videoblog in existence in 2006 that has produced at least episodes is eligible to be awarded Best Wine Related Podcast or VideoBlog. The winner of this award will have done the best job of utilizing the specific capabilities of audio and/or visual mediums to entertain and educate its listenership or viewership.

NOMINATING AND SELECTION PROCESS

1. Nominations will be solicited from the general wine blog-reading public. Anyone may nominate up to 3 blogs in any category.

2. When the nomination process is over and closed a collection of judges will investigate the nominated blogs in each category over a series of days. They will present their Top 4 finalists in each category using a written criterion for judging in each category. In each category, the four blogs that are most often chosen by the judges as finalists will be presented as the Finalists in each category.

3. The four finalists in each category will be voted upon by the general public. The winner in each category will be that finalist that receives the most votes from the general public.

4. Judges for the American Wine Blog Awards will be announced after the initial nomination process is finished.

PROMOTION FOR THE AMERICAN WINE BLOG AWARDS

1. Press releases will be sent to the wine, tech, business and food media in America announcing the opening of the nomination process, announcing the finalists in each category and announcing the winners in each Category.

2. “Nominated For” and “Winner of” logos will be made available for use by all category finalists and category winners.

3. A “Vote For” logo will be available for anyone who wishes to post it on a website and help promote the awards.

PRIZES

1. Prizes will be awarded to all winners. The prizes are yet to be determined.