The winners of the 2024 Wine Communicators of Australia (WCA) Awards have been named, including the overall 2024 Wine Communicator of the Year, which this year was presented to Andrew Caillard MW.
The awards recognised those who have made outstanding contributions to wine communications over the last year, across 11 awards categories.
WCA Executive Chair, Angus Barnes said: “[These] Awards are perhaps the most prestigious event in the WCA calendar. Having previously been presented as a single award, the format was changed in 2013 to reflect awards across a number of different categories.
“These awards reflect the changing nature of wine communication, but still the critical importance of communicating all things wine, whether it be talking to consumers at a Cellar Door, detailing complex research findings in an industry journal or crafting entertaining articles for magazines. Or, new to the Awards this year, designing beautiful packaging that tells a story or creating engaging social media to attract new audiences.”
The category award winners are:
- Best Wine Marketing Communication Campaign (Individual or Team)
- Dan Riccardo’s by Pernod Ricard
- Best Digital Communication
- Wine for the People by Unico Zelo
- Best Social Communication
- Viticulture Australia
- Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column
- Katie Spain
- Best Innovative Wine Packaging
- Tread Softly Bagnums by Denomination
- Best New Wine Book
- The Australian Ark by Andrew Caillard MW (author), Dr Angus Hughson from The Vintage Journal & David Longfield from Longueville Media (co-publishers)
- Best Winery Website
- Punt Road Wines
- Best Wine-Themed Event
- Dark Side of Wine by The Winemakers of Rutherglen
- Best Wine Communicator – Cellar Door
- Tracey Whooley, Singlefile Wines
- Best Wine Educator
- Jill Bauer, The University of Adelaide
- Best Wine Student
- Syuzanna Mosikyan, The University of Adelaide
- Overall Winner ~ 2024 Wine Communicator of the Year
- Andrew Caillard MW (Author – The Australian Ark)
Barnes added: “I wish to say a special thank you to everybody who applied in the 2024 Wine Communicator Awards, and congratulations to all the finalists and winners.
“The calibre of entries continues to impress our judges. The overall Wine Communicator of the Year is chosen by the WCA Board from the category of winners. The recipient is a person (or group of people) that has demonstrated that they excel in their area of professional work and communication in the wine sector, led by example, demonstrate respect for the wine industry and its consumers, and uphold the professional standards valued by WCA.
“This year, the 2024 Wine Communicator of the Year was awarded to Andrew Caillard MW. I will borrow some words from our judges who, when talking about The Australian Ark, said ‘this is the most important book on the Australian wine community yet written … ambitious in scope, meticulous in research, and profoundly influential…’ and I will add that I too believe this to be a piece of wine communication of considerable historical significance.
“Congratulations Andrew and The Australian Ark team.”
