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30th September 2021

New Online Training Course – ‘Alive and Pitching’ with Jacopo Mazzeo – Nov 9th @ 6pm

The Guild is pleased to offer a new online training course for our members. To book on, visit our e-store.

 

Alive and Pitching

Tuesday, November 9th [*NEW DATE*]

6:00 pm – 7:30 pm BST

Venue: Online via Zoom

Cost: £20.95 pp

 

 

Presented by freelance journalist and Guild Director Jacopo Mazzeo

Writing skills and a constant flow of excellent story ideas are basic requirements for anyone keen to embark on a writing career.

Good copy and excellent ideas however, aren’t sufficient to make writing one’s full-time profession. Without a thought-through, concise, and well-targeted pitch, even the world’s best feature will never get published.

This session, hosted by award-winning freelance journalist and Guild director Jacopo Mazzeo, will provide you with guidance, useful tips and practical advice to enhance your pitching skills, and help you get commissioned by your target magazines, newspapers and websites.

This training is suitable for writers looking to take the first steps into professional writing as well as for those keen to refine their pitching skills or give their published portfolio a boost.

In the session, you will:

  • Learn how to conceive, shape and pitch your ideas;
  • Learn how to choose the right publication for the story or vice versa, adjust your pitch according to your target publication;
  • Handle the post-pitching response, or lack of, effectively.

The first part of the session will be delivered as a talk, supported by PowerPoint slides. During this part, Jacopo will be presenting some of his own pitches as examples.

The second half will involve an interactive element, as we will discuss a selection of sample pitches written by the attendees.

All attendees are invited to submit one sample pitch of their choice at least one week in advance, specifying the name/s of the target publication and whether they are happy for the pitch to be discussed during the session. Attendees whose pitches haven’t been discussed during the session will still receive written feedback following the event. For this reason, the course will be limited to 12 places.

Course moderator

Jacopo is a wine, beer, and spirits journalist and consultant with over 10 years of international experience in the drinks industry. Jacopo’s pitching skills provided him with an ever-increasing portfolio of client publications including Good Beer HuntingFermentWine EnthusiastWhisky MagazineHarper’s Wine & Spirits, and Meininger Wine Business International.

Before he became a freelancer in late 2020, Jacopo worked as News Editor at Imbibe magazine, where he handled the wine and beer content. As part of the Imbibe editorial team, he would evaluate pitches and edit copy on a regular basis, submitted by some of the country’s most respected beer writers, from Guild chair Emma Inch to Will Hawkes, and from Adrian Tierney-Jones to current beer writer of the year Lily Waite.

Jacopo’s first book Getting to know wine will be published by Newton & Compton in the autumn. He judges several international wine and beer competitions and is one of the Directors of the British Guild of Beer Writers. Before he embraced full-time writing, Jacopo worked as a sommelier and took a PhD in Musicology. His personal website is JacopoMazzeo.com.

To reserve your place, visit our e-store.

Contact secretary@beerguild.co.uk with any questions.

Cancellation policy: the course fee is non-refundable if notice of cancellation is received fewer than 5 working days before the course