Open Call to Submit Global Nominations for the 14th Annual Spirited Awards®,
Recognizing the Professionals, Organizations and Establishments Redefining the Spirits Industry
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (January 13, 2020) – Tales of the Cocktail Foundation (TOTCF) is pleased to announce that nominations will open for the 14th annual Tales of the Cocktail Foundation Spirited Awards® on Monday, January 13, 2020 at 10:00 A.M. CST. The 2020 Spirited Awards® nomination process will be open to the public from January 13th – February 26th.
Since its founding in 2007, the Spirited Awards® have become one of the industry’s most sought-after awards, recognizing beverage professionals, products, and establishments across every facet of the spirits and cocktail community on a global scale. The award categories spotlight a range of talent from bartenders, journalists, and brand ambassadors, to brands and media, to ensure each aspect of the industry is well represented and recognized for its contributions.
The Spirited Awards® are comprised of industry accolades, both American and International, writing and media awards, and a few highly coveted, overall awards that transcend regionality including World’s Best Cocktail Bar and World’s Best Cocktail Menu. Three new categories were added to the Spirited Awards® in 2019 that will once again be awarded in 2020: a Timeless American Award, Timeless International Award, and a Philanthropy Award.
Spirits professionals and enthusiasts can nominate anyone (including self-nominations) so long as the candidates meet eligibility criteria for their respective categories. The full list of 2020 categories and eligibility requirements for each can be found here.
2020 Spirited Awards® Dates & Deadlines:
- Nomination Period Opens: 10:00 AM CST January 13th, 2020
- Nomination Period Closes: 11:59 PM CST February 26th, 2020
- Regional Honorees Announced: April 14th, 2020
- Top 10 Nominees Announced: May 4th, 2020
- Finalists Announced: June 1st, 2020
- Winners Announced: July 25th, 2020
The Spirited Awards® will be hosted on Saturday, July 25th from 8:00 – 11:00 P.M. Tickets will be available with more information in June.
Winners will be selected by a panel of over 100 industry experts, led by the following Chairs:
Spirited Awards Overall Chair
Charlotte Voisey
Spirited Awards International Chair
Jacob Briars
Central U.S. Co-Chairs
Bridget Albert
Shaun Traxler
West U.S. Co-Chairs
Kiowa Bryan
Mary Palac
East U.S. Co-Chairs
Laura Cullen
Andy Seymour
Europe Co-Chair
Guiseppe Gallo
Claire Warner
Canada Co-Chairs
Lauren Mote
Evelyn Chick
Middle East & Africa Co-Chairs
Stephanie Simbo
Richard Irwin
Latin America & Caribbean Co-Chairs
Camille Austin
Tato Giovannini
Asia Pacific Co-Chair
Micaela Piccolo
Hayley Morrison
Writing & Media Co-Chairs
Paul Clarke
Matthew Rowley
Sandrea Lawrence
Francois Monti
Spirited Awards® judges are a collection of respected bartenders, bar owners, educators, and writers from across the globe entrusted with this critical calling. Drawing on their years of experience and their knowledge of the current work being done locally, nationally, and internationally, together the judges can evaluate nominees from far and wide to ensure that the Spirited Awards® represents the breadth and diversity of the global drinks industry. Over the past year, Tales of the Cocktail Foundation worked with the regional chairs to ensure this year’s judging panel would be more geographically diverse and focused on recruiting more judges from mid-sized markets to better represent the range of the industry on a global scale. This is especially evident in the addition of three new Writing & Media Co-Chairs who span the globe for 2020.
Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s Spirited Awards® Committee is dedicated to valuing the inclusion of the communities we serve by ensuring that our judging panel reflects their incredible diversity in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality. Recognizing that inclusion is key to a well-represented committee, TOTCF strives to ensure that we have an equitable representation of gender across the judging panel.
The Spirited Awards® are not based on popular vote and all nominations will be evaluated by their respective judging committees.
###
About Tales of the Cocktail Foundation
Tales of the Cocktail Foundation is a non-profit organization that educates, advances and supports the global hospitality industry and creates lasting impact in our host communities. Tales of the Cocktail Foundation is the global leader in spirits education and a platform to tackle issues facing the industry. The pillars of the Foundation are to Educate, Advance and Support the hospitality industry through programs that benefit individuals and organizations in the community and to make a lasting impact in communities that host our events. For more information on Tales of the Cocktail, please visit www.tocstaging.wpengine.com
About Tales of the Cocktail
Founded in 2002, Tales of the Cocktail has grown from a small gathering of cocktail lovers into the world’s premier cocktail festival. Each year the international spirits industry is welcomed to New Orleans for a week of seminars, tastings, networking events and much more. With 300+ annual events developed specifically for bartenders, distillers and other spirits professionals, Tales of the Cocktail is the industry’s annual meeting place for the exchange of new ideas, products and techniques. Tales of the Cocktail 2019 will be hosted in New Orleans from July 16th to 21st, 2019.
Media Inquiries:
Gia Vecchio, [email protected], 917.280.5043
