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21st October 2020

VISITFLANDERS sponsors Guild Award for Best Beer Broadcaster

VISITFLANDERS has become the latest Guild corporate member to sponsor one of this year’s awards, putting its name to the Best Beer Broadcaster category.

Their support means that eight of the nine awards for beer writing are sponsored, in addition to the Brewer of the Year Award, sponsored by SIBA. This year’s shortlist will be published in November, and the winners in each category, and the overall Beer Writer of the Year 2020, named in December via Zoom.

Anita Rampall, press manager at VISITFLANDERS, said: “As the Guild’s sole tourism-based corporate member, we very much empathise with the need to support fellow industry members in the hospitality sector; great beer is best enjoyed in good company, be this with friends in a local pub, or with like-minded individuals seeking new styles, flavours and experiences in a different country, and Flanders has felt somewhat empty without its international friends.

“We hope that by VISITFLANDERS sponsoring the Best Broadcaster category, it will inspire broadcasters to continue to explore, speak and share their inspirational thoughts and experiences about our region’s fine beer heritage and the bright future of Belgian beer. At a time when freedom to travel is restricted there still exists a thirst for rich personal opinion and knowledge, and never has there been a time when the medium of broadcast can serve that demand more.”

Guild Chair Pete Brown said: “We’re grateful to VISITFLANDERS for becoming one of our sponsors this year.  Their generosity, and that of our other sponsors, has enabled us to run our awards this year.

“The competition looks a bit different to previous years, but we felt it was more important than ever to recognise the work of our talented members, as part of our mission to improve standards of beer writing and extend the public knowledge of beer.”

Judges this year are: Tim Anderson, chef-owner of Japanese restaurant Nanban and beer expert; Gabe Cook, award winning cider expert, (aka The Ciderologist); Jez Galaun, co-founder of Brixton Brewery; Kate Oppenheim, hospitality sector journalist and communications expert, currently publisher and editor of BII News and Tom Stainer, CAMRA chief executive. The current Beer Writer of the Year, Jonny Garrett, chairs the panel.

This year’s categories are:

  • Asahi Award for Best Beer and Travel Writer
  • NEW: Budweiser Award for Best Writing about No and Low Alcohol Beers
  • Carlsberg UK Award for Best Writing on Sustainability in Beer and Pubs
  • Greene King Award for Best Beer Writer, Print Publications
  • Harvey’s Tom Paine Award for Best Beer Citizen Communicator
  • Heineken Award for Best Beer Communicator, Online
  • NEW: Shepherd Neame Award for Best Beer & Pub Communications during lockdown
  • VISITFLANDERS Award for Best Beer Broadcaster
  • Guild Award for Best Beer Writer, Corporate Communications
  • SIBA Brewer of the Year Award (by member vote)

VISITFLANDERS represents the Dutch-speaking, northern region of Belgium, a country that has been synonymous with amazing beer for decades. Famous for our extensive range of beer styles, the region boasts a brewing heritage dating back to the 12th Century. Attracting beer lovers from all over the world, Flanders is also home to an enviable array of great beer venues, from cosy bars and traditional ‘brown’ cafés, to brewery taps and festivals held in stunning heritage locations; no wonder that our rich brewing and beer traditions make Belgium the only country where beer culture is officially recognised as part of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage listing.

For more information: www.visitflanders.com