SANWSA honours young wine writer with 'Best Article' award
The SA National Wine Show Association, organisers of the 2021 SA Wine Writer of the Year Competition, awarded 'Best Article' to Ines de Sousa.
· 4 min read
Caption: Bennie Howard (SANWSA vice-chairman), Wanda Augustyn (WineLand Media editor), Ines de Sousa (wine writer) and Christo Pienaar (SANWSA chairman).
On Friday, 11 February 2022, The SA National Wine Show Association (SANWSA), organisers of the 2021 South African Wine Writer of the Year Competition, presented the award for ‘Best Article Entry’ to Ines de Sousa.
For her article ‘Farming according to moon cycles: Science or Science Fiction?’, Ines de Sousa won ‘Best Article Entry’, and awarded R2 500 in prize money.
On the prescribed subject – Working with the elements (fire, air, water, soil) in the wine world – and referring largely to biodynamic farming, Ines wrote: “Using the elements in the vineyard and in astrology appears harmless if not extremely successful in giving back to nature without compromising on quality.”
Speaking fluent English and Portuguese, Ines resides in Somerset-West and is a third year student in Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Stellenbosch.
She has done numerous wine tasting presentations at various local wineries. At the time of the announcement, Ines was travelling abroad, and presented with the certificate on her return to South Africa during February.
In a media statement, released December last year, SANWSA said that while the general standard of entries reflected the current challenging times facing the industry, the “competition remains a valuable podium for the future voices of SA wine.”
“At a time when so many institutions and events are under pressure, we remain on course to encourage and identify new wine writers and develop new avenues for both their exposure and expression.”
Dr Neil Pendock, a member of the judging panel and prominent South African wine blogger, writer and judge, said, “For South Africans to write about SA wine is important. If we don’t tell the stories, who will?”
“Reaching out to next generation wine writers would be a good investment for the industry. The wine writer is part of the communication chain connecting farmer to consumer, a chain as strong as its weakest link.”
In addition to the article and blog writing categories, for the first time last year, the competition included social media content creation (via Instagram) to its list of entry categories.
WATCH: Our coverage of the Veritas Young Wine Writer of the Year 2019
The judges expressed the view that the entries for blogs and Instagram did not meet the required standard, accuracy and attention to detail. No overall winner was thus announced, as the score of two divisions had to be totalled to determine the main prize.
The judging panel for the ninth annual round of the competition (previously the SA Young Wine Writers Competition) comprised seasoned South African wine journalists Wanda Augustyn, Cassie du Plessis, Danie Keet, Fiona McDonald and Neil Pendock.
Wanda Augustyn, editor of WineLand Media says, “WineLand started off as a platform to the wine industry to inform and educate. More recently we’ve shone a spotlight on young talented professionals in the wine industry in our 30 under 30 challenge to help path their way to excellence.
Now we want to find new voices to join the more familiar ones, to give new writers and communicators a change to provide their own distinctive take on the world of wine.”
The organisers announced that with positive feedback and support from the schools of journalism of the University of Stellenbosch and Cape Peninsula University of Technology a writing school pertaining to the competition will be held in the second quarter of the year to encourage more new wine writers to enter for the competition next year.
The chairperson of the SANWSA, Christo Pienaar, has emphasised the value and importance of the competition. “We believe that we must create a platform for new wine writers to discuss the country’s wines, and we want to encourage young wine writers to convey authority on South African wine and to spread the positive message of our quality wines.”
For more information contact the SANWSA on 021 863 1599 or [email protected]
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