Announcing the 4th annual North American Guild of Beer Writers competition.

UPDATE: The North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) has extended the deadline for submissions to the 2016 NAGBW competition to this Friday, 8/26 at midnight (Pacific Time).

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The North American Guild of Beer Writers (NAGBW) has announced its 4th annual Awards for beer writers, bloggers, broadcasters, and authors. If you've written (or broadcast) about beer in the past year, you may submit in one of ten categories:

• Best Beer Book
  Book entries must be original works by an author or co-authors. (Recipe-based cookbooks are eligible in this category or Best Beer and Food Writing the Beer and Food Writing category.)
• Best Local Reporting
  Print or online media covering significant issues of local concern (e.g., alt weeklies, brewspapers, local newspapers).
• Best National/ International Reporting
  Print or online media covering significant issues of national or international concern (eg., magazines, online magazines and newspapers with national/ international circulation or readership).
• Best Beer and Food Writing
  print or online media that places beer in the context of food, including but not limited to recipes and pairings.
• Best Beer and Travel Writing
  Print or online media that transports the reader to a place and provides guidance or insight to the location’s unique features and beer landscape. (Beer travel books are eligible in this category or Best Beer Book.)
• Best Historical/ Technical Beer Writing
  Print or online media that chronicles beer historically or technically (e.g., trade media).
• Best Beer Commentary or Criticism
  Print or online media that provide a position or opinion with clear style and reasoning on a topic relating to the beer industry (e.g., columns, editorials, and first-person pieces).
• Best Short Form Beer Writing
  Beer writing from any publication, online or print, that contains fewer than 600 words.
• Best Beer Podcast/ Broadcast
  Any audio or video series that explores the subject of beer.
• Best Beer Blog
  A blog series that explores the subject of beer.

To be eligible, an entry must have been published on or between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2016, and there is a fee —$15 per entry for NAGBW members; $30 for non-members— which will be used to fund winners' prizes and "modest judge stipends" ("modest" modifying the stipends not the judges). If you're interested in competing, you'll have to hurry. The deadline for submissions is Monday, 22 August.

Winners will be announced —gold, silver, and bronze in each category— on 7 October, during the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. (The names of the judges will be revealed as well.) Good luck!

And while I'm at it ...

If you are an independent beer writer, beer blogger, and/or audio/visual content producer specializing in beer, why not consider joining the NAGBW? Membership is $45 per year.

With the formation of the NAGBW and an annual writing competition, the Guild aims to broaden the conversation about beer and brewing, raise the standards of writing, and provide leadership and continuing education for practitioners of our profession, while also encouraging and supporting more participation throughout all media channels.

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• Press release and online submission page (with further details about categories): here.
• A brief history of the NAGBW: at YFGF.
• Lists of prior years' contest winners:
  • 2013.
  • 2014.
  • 2015.


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