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BarLifeUK launch transparent, peer-voted UK bar awards
Here at BarLifeUK, we believe it is time the UK had a trade-focussed, and trade voted, bar awards that fairly recognises and celebrates the best industry in the world.
Bar awards are nothing new, there are currently several voted for by magazines and websites read by consumers.
And of course there are the Spirited Awards, Tales of the Cocktail’s attempt to recognise the global industry’s best. Both have their plusses and limitations – not least that, for whatever reason, it is nigh-on impossible for venues outside London to win a Spirited Award.
The UK’s Best Awards are set to change that.
Held in Manchester on February 1st, the UK’s Best Awards will be a thoroughly National affair. Bars, bar teams and individuals throughout the UK will be able to nominate each other, and themselves, in one of six categories. There will also be a nationwide UK’s Best Bartender competition, the final of which will take place at the awards ceremony.
Transparent and Trade Voted
BarLifeUK have thought long and hard about the best way to run bar awards, and have devised what we believe to be the most fair and transparent way of selecting finalists and the eventual winners. This is the process:
- Voter Registration: Members of the UK bar industry will be invited to register to vote. Think of this as getting your name on the electoral roll. Each person to register will be given a unique voter number, which they will use when the time comes to cast their votes. This registration period will run for a finite period of time and once cut-off, no new voters will be able to register. This will produce the UK’s Best Awards ‘electorate’.
- Category Nominations Open: Bars, teams and individuals can nominate themselves or others. Categories will be open to any relevant person or bar, anywhere in the UK. The category criteria and nomination period will be expanded upon shortly.Nominations will open on July 13th, 2015.
- Long List Publication: Every bar, team or individual to receive a nomination in each category will be published.
- Trade Voting: Voting will open, and anyone who registered to vote will be able to do so, once in each category.
- Short List Publication: Once the voting period has ended, the six bars, teams and individuals in each category who won the most votes will be published.
- BarLifeUK Judging: Each venue in the top six shortlists will be visited by Simon Webster and Andy Ives of BarLifeUK. Team and individual shortlists will also be assessed in accordance with the awards criteria, personally by BarLifeUK.BarLifeUK scores will then be combined with the votes received from the trade to calculate the ultimate winner in each category. These will be announced, amid a great deal of celebration and messing about, at the awards ceremony in February.
This process may sound like something of a rigmarole, but we believe it is the best way to ensure members of the trade get their say. The BarLifeUK part of the judging process is there to ensure the voting does not simply become a popularity contest. Only great bars and people will win their categories.
The UK’s Best Awards Categories – Nominations Open July 13th, 2015
The criteria for each of the UK’s Best Awards categories will be announced shortly.
- UK’s Best Cocktail Bar
- UK’s Best After Shift Bar
- UK’s Best New Bar
- UK’s Best Bar Team
- UK’s Best Bar Manager
- UK’s Best Bar Mentor
- UK’s Best Bartender
UK’s Best Bartender
The UK’s Best Bartender Award will be open for anyone who works at least three shifts behind the bar per week.
The rules will be simple – make your best drink, and perform your best chat, in five minutes. There will be no sponsor brands to please, just the BarLifeUK judges. Everyone who enters will get the chance to make their drink, there will be no paper judging in the UK’s Best Bartender competition.
Entry details will follow shortly, but BarLifeUK will be visiting cities throughout the UK to hold heats. The top six bartenders will go through to the final at the awards ceremony. This top six will be calculated by score alone – there will not be a set number of qualifiers from each regional heat.
Register Now – Make Your Vote Count
More information on the category criteria will be announced in the coming days. Nominations will open on July 13th. But right now, the most important thing you can do is register to vote – make sure you have a voice in the UK’s Best Awards.
In our travels, we have heard a great many grumbles about the Spirited Awards, and other such attempts to recognise our industry. We believe this is the most fair and transparent way to do it, without being London-centric or ‘murky’.
The greater the number of voters, the more accurate the results, so stop grumbling (if indeed you were), and fill out the form below, and make your vote count.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_raw_html]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZkb2NzLmdvb2dsZS5jb20lMkZmb3JtcyUyRmQlMkYxel8zNm5pckZ6cmlFU0lBVW1sbmN1RUZnZG5VbktiZEVaOUEzQlpwdXNZcyUyRnZpZXdmb3JtJTNGZW1iZWRkZWQlM0R0cnVlJTIyJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjI3NjAlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjIxMDAwJTIyJTIwZnJhbWVib3JkZXIlM0QlMjIwJTIyJTIwbWFyZ2luaGVpZ2h0JTNEJTIyMCUyMiUyMG1hcmdpbndpZHRoJTNEJTIyMCUyMiUzRUxvYWRpbmcuLi4lM0MlMkZpZnJhbWUlM0U=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row]