Terms & Conditions

Information on how to enter and prizes form part of these terms and conditions. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these conditions. Entries must comply with these conditions to be valid.

• Entry is open to licensed on-premise venues in Australia.
• Entrants must be 18 years of age or over
• Entrants must submit the completed online entry form, including payment details and PDFs of your wine list and your menu. We will also require two high-resolution images of your venue. This all needs to be submitted by 5.00pm on the closing date.
• Full entry details and information on how to enter are available at winelistoftheyear.com.au.
• The Promoter, it’s employees and immediate families are ineligible to enter.

Details of all awards to be won are as follows:

AUSTRALIA’S WINE LIST OF THE YEAR AWARD includes the 
JUDY HIRST AWARD for the Sommelier responsible for the winning list.

One winner of each State or Territory Wine List Award

• Best Wine List: ACT
• Best Wine List: NSW
• Best Wine List: NT
• Best Wine List: QLD
• Best Wine List: SA
• Best Wine List: TAS
• Best Wine List: VIC
• Best Wine List: WA

One winner of each Venue Type Category Award:

• Australia’s Best Restaurant Wine List – City
• Australia’s Best Restaurant Wine List – Country
• Australia’s Best Hotel Restaurant Wine List
• Australia’s Best Pub Restaurant Wine List
• Australia’s Best Club Restaurant Wine List
• Australia’s Best Wine Bar Wine List – Fiona Macdonald Award

One winner of each of the Other Category Awards:

• Australia’s Best New Wine List – Tony Hitchin Award
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 50 wines
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 100 wines
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 200 wines
• Australia’s Best Food & Wine Matching List
• Australia’s Best Non-Alcoholic List
• Australia’s Best Listing of Wines by the Glass
• Australia’s Best Champagne List
• Australia’s Best Sparkling List
• Australia’s Best Aperitif List
• Australia’s Best Digestif List
• Australia’s Best Cocktail List
• Australia’s Best Beer List
• Australia’s Best Japanese Sake List
• Australia’s Best Listing of a Single Region’s Wine
• Australia’s Best Listing of Australian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of ACT Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of NSW Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of SA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of QLD Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of TAS Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of VIC Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of WA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of French Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Greek Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Italian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of USA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of New Zealand Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Organic and Biodynamic Australian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Museum and Rare Wines
• Australia’s Choice Award (Consumer)
• Wine List Service Award

JUDGING PROCESS

A panel comprised of 31 judges from Australia and overseas (“the Panel”) with expertise in the wine, food and hospitality industries will judge the entries. All entries will be judged individually on their merits based on content, balance, suitability, presentation and pricing of the wines on their wine lists.  For further information on the criteria used for judging by the Panel visit www.winelistoftheyear.com.au.

There will be two rounds of judging and each entry will be judged by at least two members of the Panel. The judges will submit their individual scores to the Chairman of the Panel whom will determine the winner of each award based on the scores of the individual judges as well as the Chairman’s own review and further consultation with the members of the Panel, if required. The Panel and the Chairman’s decision are final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into. Award winners and other results of the judging will be published in Drinks Trade magazine as well as online at www.winelistoftheyear.com.au.

Winners will be presented with their Awards at an awards ceremony held at a decided upon date each year.

Entries not completed in accordance with these terms and conditions or entries received later than 17:00 on the closing date cannot be accepted.

The Panel’s and/or the Promoter’s decision in relation to any aspect of the competition is final and binding. No correspondence will be entered into. The Promoter assumes no responsibility for any failure to receive an entry or for inaccurate information or for any loss, damage or injury as a result of technical or telecommunications problems, including security breaches. If such problems arise, then the Promoter may (where necessary with the approval of the relevant lottery authority) modify, cancel, terminate or suspend the promotion. Entrants may be subject to a random audit by an independent firm of chartered accountants in order to verify the entrant’s submitted wine list matches with the entrant’s wine cellar and/or order records.

There will be a winner in each of the Category Awards and each of the State and Territory Awards. The top point scoring entrants will be eligible for the “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” and the winner – “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” will be decided by all the Australian and International Judges involved in the Awards. The winner of each Category Award, State and Territory Award will receive a specially framed Award Winners Certificate and engraved wine decanter.

Any taxes (excluding GST) which may be payable as a consequence of receiving a prize are the sole responsibility of the winners. Prizes are not transferable and are not redeemable for cash. In the event that any prize becomes unavailable for reasons beyond the Promoter’s control, the Promoter may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

The Promoter reserves the right to request verification or other details of winners relevant to entry into or participation in this promotion. Verification is at the discretion of the Promoter, whose decision is final. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any individual or venue that provides false information, fails to provide information, conspires with others to gain an unfair advantage or who is otherwise involved in any way in manipulating, interfering or tampering with this promotion.

The prizes are subject to the terms and conditions of any third party prize suppliers. The Promoter shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury suffered by any winner as a result of the conduct of any third party prize supplier or otherwise as a result of the winner accepting and/or using a prize (even if caused by negligence), except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. Before the “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” prize is awarded, the winner and any other person/s sharing the prize with the winner will be required to sign a form to release the Promoter from, and indemnify the Promoter against, any and all liability arising from the use or participation in the prize.

Entrants confirm and promise that their entry is original and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party. By participating, entrants agree that ownership of any intellectual property rights in their entry is assigned to the Promoter. The entrant agrees to sign any further documentation required by the Promoter to give effect to this assignment. To the extent permitted by applicable law, entrants unconditionally and irrevocably consent to any act or omission that would otherwise infringe any moral rights in any materials submitted as part of their entry and waive all moral rights in such materials.

Entrants will be refused service of alcohol or provision of an alcoholic beverage prize if it would breach any relevant laws, codes or policies including those of the relevant liquor licensee relating to the responsible service of alcohol. The Promoter supports the responsible service of alcohol.

Entrants consent to the Promoter using their name, likeness, image and/or voice in the event that they are a winner in any media for an unlimited period of time without remuneration for the purpose of promoting this promotion (including any outcome).

Entries remain the property of the Promoter. Details from entries will be collected and used for the purposes of conducting this promotion (which may include disclosure to third parties for the purpose of processing and conducting the promotion) and for promotional purposes surrounding this promotion. By entering this promotion entrants consent to the use of their information as described and agree that the Promoter may use this information, or disclose it to other organisations that may use it, in any media for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes without any further reference or payment to the entrant. Entrants may access, change and/or update their personal information and obtain a copy of the Promoter’s privacy policy by contacting the Promoter at awards@winelistoftheyear.com

The Promoter is Wine List of the Year Awards – ACN 002 862 197

10 Arthur Street, Killara, NSW, 2071, Australia.

© Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards 2024.