The Guild of Beer Writers Awards are the only competition to recognise and reward writing and broader communication about beer and pubs in the UK. We are proud of our award scheme and take it seriously, with a rigorous judging process, a generous prize fund thanks to our sponsors and an awards presentation and dinner in December that has become one of the industry’s top ‘must attend’ events.
The 2020 Annual Awards attracted close to 150 entries across nine categories including books, newspaper articles, blogs, and radio broadcasts. This year’s competition also included two new categories: Best Writing about No and Low Alcohol Beers, sponsored by Budweiser Brewing Group UK & Ireland and Best Beer & Pub Communications during Lockdown, sponsored by Shepherd Neame.
Given the inability to hold an in-person awards presentation and dinner this year, the winners were announced during a Zoom event attended by most of the finalists, judges, sponsors and other Guild members. View the awards presentation here.
Find a full list of our 2020 Award Winners by category below, along with a link to a sample of their award-winning work.
2020 Award Winners
The Michael Jackson Gold Award for Beer Writer of the Year 2020
Greene King Award for Best Beer Writer, Print Publications
- Winner: Roger Protz for The Family Brewers of Britain
- Silver Award: Mark Dredge for A Brief History of Lager
Heineken Award for Best Beer Communicator, Online
- Winner: Lily Waite for articles in Good Beer Hunting and Pellicle
- Silver Award: Claire Bullen for writing in titles including Imbibe and Independent Brewer
Asahi Award for Best Beer and Travel Writer
- Winner: Claire Bullen for writing in Good Beer Hunting and Imbibe
- Silver Award: Lily Waite for articles in titles including Ferment and Pellicle
Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company Award for Best Writing about Sustainability in Beer and Pubs
- Winner: Emma Inch for a series of programmes on Fermentation Radio
- Silver Award: Anthony Gladman, for articles in Ferment
- Highly Commended: Will Hawkes for a report on Pubs and Sport for PubAid
Budweiser Brewing Group Award for Best Writing about No and Low Alcohol Beers
- Winner: Natalya Watson for the Beer With Nat podcast
- Silver Award: Malin Norman for article in On Tap magazine
Visit Flanders Award for Best Beer Broadcaster
- Winner: Jaega Wise for episodes on BBC Radio’s The Food Programme
- Silver Award: Natalya Watson for the Beer With Nat podcast
Shepherd Neame Award for Best Communication about Beer and Pubs during Lockdown
- Winner: Emma Inch for the Fermentation in Isolation podcasts
- Silver Award: Lily Waite for various press articles and ‘Until Further Notice‘ zine
- Highly Commended: Richard Molloy for columns in Herald Express, Torbay
Harvey’s Tom Paine Award for Best Citizen Beer Communicator
- Winner: John Stooke for Last Orders: A History of Pubs in Swindon
- Silver Award: Gabriele Bertucci for the What’s in the Glass podcasts
Guild Award for Best Beer Writer, Corporate Communications
SIBA Award for Brewer of the Year
More on our 2020 Annual Awards and our sponsors here.