By Andy Young, Editor The Shout
Voting is now open for the 2017 Australian Liquor Industry Awards (ALIA), and this is your opportunity to vote for the best performing brands, products, venues and people over the last 12 months.
All members of the Australian liquor industry are encouraged to vote for one or more awards in the off-premise and on-premise awards categories.
Simply head to the ALIA website to vote.
ALIA is the Australian liquor industry’s night of nights and after two successful years at the venue the awards will once again take place at Randwick Racecourse. This year ALIA will be held on Wednesday, 18 October, so once you have voted don’t forget to book your ticket – and also book your costume for the Heroes and Villains theme.
The night will see 54 awards presented, with all winners audited by PKF who have come on-board as this year’s awards auditor. This is the first stage of the ALIA voting process as all members of the Australian liquor industry are given their chance to vote.
In the on-premise categories, there are no initial nominations due to the number of possible venues or products to be nominated in a given category and all nominations can be made with a free response. So voters are encouraged to make their decision based on the people, teams, brands and venues who have excelled over the last 12 months.
In the off-premise the data comes from IRI’s MarketEdge Liquor measurement, which recognises the top performing products over the 12 months ending 30 April 2017.
Over 30,000 voting forms are printed and distributed nationally within the Intermedia magazines in July and August and voting is also available through the ALIA website.
The finalists in all categories are determined by the highest number of votes, once voting closes on Friday 18 August, 2017. All finalists in all categories are then judged by an off-premise selection panel and an on-premise selection panel made up of senior industry representatives which is printed in each year’s event program.
The industry panel votes in a 3-2-1 process for their top three selections in every category, with this data then audited by PKF to confirm the winners in each category. Full details on the voting process are available through the ALIA website.
This is the important first stage of the ALIA voting process and an opportunity to make sure your favourite brand, product, venue or person makes it to the list of finalists that the selection panel will vote on.
