The International Wine and Spirit Competition Announces Two Winners for ‘Communicator of the Year 2015’

IWSC news

Sat 21 Mar 2015

The International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) has announced two winners for its ‘Communicator of the Year 2015’. For the first time in the history of the competition; the judges couldn’t separate two outstanding nominees, so the decision was taken to award the Communicator Trophy to both wine author and American restaurateur Joseph Bastianich and Australian wine author and presenter Tyson Stelzer.
 
Sponsored by Vinitaly, the award was announced at the fair’s opening Gala Dinner in Verona on Saturday 21st March. The accolade, awarded annually, highlights an individual who demonstrates exceptional contribution to increasing awareness of wine and/or spirits.
 
As the joint 20th recipients of this prestigious trophy award, both Joseph and Tyson join the IWSC hall of fame of past winners, including; last year’s winner TV wine expert and writer Jane Parkinson, whisky specialist Dave Broom, wine critic Jancis Robinson MW and wine writer and presenter Olly Smith.
 
Joseph is co-founder of thirty successful restaurants worldwide. He has co-authored two award winning books on Italian wine and is a former judge on FOX’s MasterChef and MasterChef Junior, his latest TV venture is CNBC’s Restaurant Startup.
 
Commenting on his joint win, Joseph Bastianich said, “I am honoured to have been nominated, and to have won this award which has seen a succession of big names in the industry over the years. This year, the satisfaction increases by sharing the prize with a communicator with the calibre of Tyson Stelzer, a great joy ."
 
Tyson is a multi-award-winning Australian wine writer, author of 14 wine books and a regular contributor to magazines including; Wine Spectator, Decanter, Qantas; The Australian Way and Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine.
 
Tyson Stelzer commented, “It is a tremendous honour to be awarded the International Wine & Spirit Communicator of the Year, yet as a communicator I am but a voice for the great stories of the world of wine, and the true honour is deserved by those to whom these stories belong. Winning this award will afford me greater voice to tell the remarkable stories of wine, particularly of Australia and Champagne, and to further the cause of saving under-age teens from alcohol abuse”.
 
IWSC General Manager, Ewan Lacey commented, “Both Joseph and Tyson are worthy winners. They both have very different achievements in the drinks industry and are leaders in their field. I’d like to personally congratulate them on becoming our first joint IWSC Communicators of the Year”.
 
Tyson will be hosting a tasting at Vinitaly; ‘The Wine Closure debate, Same Wines, Different Closures, You Decide’ at Tasting Ex..Press, Sala Iris, Palaexpo, Ingresso A1, on Monday 23rd March at 3:30pm.
 
Notes to editors:
For more information please contact Lianne Walsh at Green Row, Lianne@greenrow.co.uk  or 020 8 960 8950
 
•The International Wine and Spirit Competition was founded in 1969 and is the premier competition of its kind in the world. Its aim is to promote the quality and excellence of the world's best wines, spirits and liqueurs. All entries are blind tasted in groups divided by variety, region and vintage as necessary.
•The IWSC has partnered with Wines Direct to promote its top award winning wines. The price comparison website will allow consumers to search for medal winners by country, variety, colour, region, or retailer. The website will also show judges’ tasting notes for wines which have won trophy, gold, gold outstanding and silver outstanding.
•IWSC has appointed Neil McGuigan as the 2015 president.  
•The 2015 Annual Awards Banquet will be held on Thursday 26th November, at The Guildhall, City of London. 
•Enter the 2015 International Wine & Spirit Competition online at www.iwsc.net 
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