2012 Born Digital Wine Awards: No Pay No Jay wins an award

I'm delighted to have won Best Investigative Wine Story at the 2012 Born Digital Wine Awards. My particular thanks go to Harold Heckle, who obtained the crucial emails. I will be splitting the 1000€ prize with him. Thanks to ours sources who were brave enough to provide us with the emails, especially when the reaction, especially in Murcia, was to institute a witch-hunt to find out who had passed on the emails.

My thanks to Vincent Pousson, who broke the story, and to Jacques Berthomeau, who gave the initial story legs by allowing Vincent to post on his blog. Also thanks to the many who offered us their support during the investigation.   

Born Digital Awards Results

Congratulations to all the prizewinners and the runners up.

The winner of each category receives 1000€ a Jancis Robinson Purple Page membership, a pass to the 2012 European Wine Bloggers Conference and an invitation to join the Circle of Wine Writers with a one year complementary free membership. Unfortunately the CWW offer does not apply to Best Winery Self Produced Content category. The CWW also welcomes membership applications from bloggers, in particular those shortlisted for the Born Digital Awards. Details from our administrator, Andrea Warren, on andrea.warren@btinternet.com      

There is an additional prize from Laithwaites, one of the sponsors of the award, who will be offering help to winners to obtain a piece of equipment that they always wanted. The first runner up receives a WiFi Kindle and the second runner up a £50 voucher to spend on Amazon.   

Best Editorial Wine Writing

1. Andrea Frost (The New Ruby Press): The Invention of Wine

2. Paul Keers (Sediment): Just Looking: The Joy of Wine Browsing

3. Amy Corron Power (Another Wine Blog): Wine Intelligence admits Bias, Ulterior Motives in “Wine Blogger Distrust” Release

Best Investigative Wine Story

1. Jim Budd (Jim’s Loire): Campogate, no Pay no Jay

2. Evan Dawson (Submitted Piece to Palate Press): Message from California  Winemakers: Stop Slandering Our Pinot!

3. Chris Kissack (Wine Doctor): Pressure Sensitive

Best Wine Tourism Feature

1. Nick Stock (Post Ferment): Preserving Home Turf: A very special part of the world

2. Louise Hurren (Submitted Piece to Wine Travel Guides): Authentic wines and hearty cooking in Bucelas outside Lisbon

3. Tom Florina (The Vine Route): Contextual pleasures: NYC chic meets Corsican mystique

Best Winery Self Produced Content

1. Ryan O’Connell (O’Vineyards): Who Visits Vineyards

2. Gavin Quinney (Bauduc Blog): 13 Unpalatable Facts about the UK Wine Duty

3. Kerith Overstreet (Brulium Wine Blog): Insufferable

Best Wine Themed Video

1. Giorgia Guarienti (Off Road Strade Creative): Wine: Got to Deserve It

2. Richard Hemming (Purple Pages): An MW student’s guide to remembering appellations

3. Ophélie Neiman (Miss Glou Glou): Au coeur du bouchon de liège

Best Wine Photo Essay

1. Matt Wilson (MattWilson.cl): Small Wine Producers in the Maule Valley Chile

2. Mick Rock (Cephas): A biodynamic day at Dr Bürklin Wolf

3. Giacomo Tincani (La Basia): Tie (Legare)

The Judges:

Ulf Sjödin

Tim Atkin

Elin McCoy

Patrick Schmitt

Fongyee Walker

Hervé Lalau

Richard Ross

Wink Lorch