In a nutshell
To enter your wines or spirits for the People's Choice Drinks competitions click here:
Wine: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcwa/enter-the-wine-awards/
Spirits: https://peopleschoicedrinksawards.com/pcsa/enter-the-spirits-awards/
Early Bird entries are £99 until midnight on September 1, 2024. The price then increases to £120 from September 2.
The full timeline of the awards can be found here (the same dates apply for both competitions).
You carried out all the judging in London last year, is that right?
Yes, it worked so well, although the judging process will now take place in January 2025, rather than November 2024. This is to account for November being such a busy time of year for both consumers and trade judges. Our education partner, WSET School London, provides fantastic facilities and it is so easy for us to carry out the sessions there over two days. But we will always have the awards ceremony in Manchester.
Our judging structure will remain the same, with wine and spirits enthusiasts selected from an application process, sitting alongside professionals.
Many people may know that around 80% of our consumer judges hold WSET qualifications, taken as a hobby (i.e. they are not in the trade). It is a fantastic opportunity for current students to test their new skills and many, particularly those studying the WSET Diploma, see it as a great learning opportunity and a possible stepping stone to their career in the drinks industry.
How many of your judges are professionals – has that changed?
The judging involves both drinks trade professionals and consumers
Approximately 30% of our current judging panels are made up of industry professionals. They are a mixture of respected buyers (Ocado, Waitrose, Co-op etc), sommeliers from around the UK, independent retailers, importers and distributors (Myliko, Atom Brands, Paragon Brands, Boutinot) and members of the drinks trade press and PR teams.
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, as non-trade judges always say they learn so much from the process, it really is a win-win situation.
We will still have a second round of judging, in the event of close scoring and/or 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 three of these in each competition. So every finalist placing or medal is very hard fought indeed.
Anything about the wine awards we need to know about?
We have introduced several new categories this year, including two for the on-trade (Best House Wine and Sommeliers Choice), in response to interest from companies supplying restaurants and bars.We’ve also introduced some new sustainability categories, which reflect current trends and consumer awareness around this topic.
They are ‘Save the Planet’ for wines with a sustainability accreditation, including organic wines and ‘Beyond Bottles’ for wines in alternative packaging.
This links very well with our new project Sustainability in Drinks - more on that later.
We also have a new design category called ‘Buy with your Eyes’ for innovative and eye catching packaging and design. As consumers are very often attracted to the label design when deciding to buy, it will be super-interesting to see what comes in from producers and suppliers.
We have continued the own label categories this year, due to number of entries we received for the 2024 Awards and they have been re-named ‘Buyers Choice’ for the best in own label or private label reds and whites.
Anything about the spirits awards we need to know about?
The 2024 People's Choice Drinks Awards presentation
We’ve had a big refresh of the categories for the spirits awards, after consultations with consumer groups and some of our long-standing professional judges.
New categories include ‘Aperitivo Time’ for Vermouth and light aperitifs, ‘Cocktail Hour’ categories for Tequila, Rum and premium RTD cocktails and ‘After Dinner Digestif’ for grape based spirits such as Cognac, Armagnac and much more.
This is in addition to our existing Gin, Whisky/Whiskey, and Vodka Awards.We’ve also introduced a ‘Save the Planet’ category here too for sustainably produced spirits.
Anything else which is new?
We’ve been working with existing and potential entrants to the competitions across importers, retailers and producers, to establish what the most valuable aspects of the PCDA are. It was a very honest and open debate and as a consequence, we will now be providing detailed consumer and professional judging comments and feedback on all the wines and spirits submitted to the competition, on request.
This was identified as the key benefit of entering the PCDA and what sets the competitions apart from other awards.
Even if the wine or spirit isn’t shortlisted or doesn’t receive a medal position, it is hugely helpful to know what consumers and trade judges had to say.
For suppliers, they can use this information in marketing messaging, gain feedback on new blends/styles and how they resonate with the average buyer.
This sort of information is generally only available, with huge associated costs via dedicated research projects. All of this valuable information is included Free (within the cost of the submission fee), which represents amazing value.
Stockist’s links to all wines and spirits currently available in the UK, will now be added to the results page of the PCDA website, once the finalists are announced in January 2025.
All this is in addition to what ‘you might expect’ from a drinks competition, including having stickers available to purchase as well as free artwork for printed labelling and marketing materials. We also promote finalist and award-winning wines and spirits year-round on the website and on social media.
We now have over 26,000 directly opted-in consumers on our database, which is an astonishing figure, considering we only started the wine Awards in 2018 and the spirits competition in 2020.
We’ve carried out marketing projects on behalf of brands including indepth consumer research on labelling and opinions on alternative packaging formats.It is a great resource to have and testament to the popularity of the competitions.
You mentioned Sustainability in Drinks - what is that about?
Sustainability in Drinks is a new event to be hosted in October
Judy Kendrick and I have teamed up with Anne Jones (ex-Waitrose and Wine GB’s Sustainability Ambassador) and Fran Draper, a sustainability consultant (ex-Boutinot), to bring an innovative and much-needed trade event to London on October 14 and 15 2024.
It will be the first time that an exhibition has been dedicated to the drinks trade, with a focus on sustainability.
There is an exhibition on October 15 with around 60 exhibitors across wine, spirits and other drinks, services (including products, filling and alternative packaging) and advisory services.
Alongside the exhibition will be 5 ‘SID Talks’ with practical, useful information and the very best advice for all types of visitors, irrespective of where they are on their sustainability journey. We’ve had a huge amount of interest and enthusiasm from the industry as a whole, with trade buyers, sustainability managers and journalists expected to attend the event.Many have already signed up even at this early stage.
We are collaborating with some fantastic trade bodies and membership organisations which are providing the very best support to the drinks industry internationally.They include Porto Protocol, IWCA, WSTA, Regenerative Viticulture Foundation, the Vine Strategy Group and SWR.Visitors will be able to meet them at the event and find the support they need as well as being able to source sustainable drinks and products.
The event has the full support of our four Founding Partners, which are ‘front and centre’ of this inaugural annual event. They include Maison Mirabeau, Triage, Encirc and WASP (Wines of Alentejo Sustainabilty Project).
Janet Harrions and Judy Kendrick are the founders of Sustainability in Drinks event
They will be part of a panel debate on October 14, held at the WSET School, chaired by Richard Siddle. The theme of the conference is ‘Creating Value Through Sustainability’ and we are thrilled to have two very influential keynote speakers; Master of Wine Jancis Robinson OBE and Judith Batchelar OBE.
You can find out more about SID here: https://sustainabilityindrinks.com/
Are you still looking for exhibitors?
Yes, we are interested in applications for companies to take a table at the exhibition, although over half of the space is already filled.The cost is £900+ VAT and the details can be found here.
Is there a cost to attend the event?
For bona-fide members of the drinks trade (it is a trade only event), the exhibition on October 15 is free to attend and registrations are now open: https://sustainabilityindrinks.com/the-programme/
The SID conference on Monday 14th October has a ticket price of just £65 which includes great wines from Mirabeau and WASP as well as locally sourced light food.The conference tickets are limited and can be found here: https://sustainabilityindrinks.com/event/sid-conference/
- The Buyer is media partner to both the People’s Choice Wine and Spirits awards and Sustainability in Drinks event.
- The Awards ceremony will be held at Revolution in Manchester in March 2025.It is a really fun evening, where everyone can network in a relaxed environment, rather than being restricted to table seating. The vibe is very much fun and not ‘stuffy’.
