1K for 1 Post! The 2009 Wine Blogger Scholarship

April 22nd, 2009 → 10:26 am @ Josh Hermsmeyer


1 post. 1k. It’s crazy, I know. Not $1000 for the best blog writing over a year, not a salary position for a month, or even 6 months of work (check out Murphy Goode’s very cool contest for that). I’m talking about $1000 for a couple hours of work. Good times.

I’m really excited about the Scholarship. It’s been over 6 months in the making, and the timing couldn’t have worked out better. The economy is in the toilet, wine drinking is flat-lining, and there seems to be a little less energy out there. Hopefully this little award will spice things up a bit and make a difference in one deserving blogger’s life. And, best of all, we plan to make it an annual event.

Scholarship Details

I’m sure you’re excited to get blogging, so on to the details:

As part of your entry you will be required to answer the following 2 questions:

1. Why are you passionate about wine, and what motivates you to blog about it?

2. Choose any wine, from any area or appellation and use your analysis of it as a springboard to answer the following question:

Is it appropriate for a wine reviewer to prescribe the ways in which a wine should be made, or is their job chiefly to review what’s in the bottle? Use examples from the wine you choose to illustrate your position.

How To Enter

To enter, simply post your entry on your public blog and link back to this post. The link to do so is here:

http://pinotblogger.com/2009/04/22/1k-for-1-post-the-2009-wine-blogger-scholarship/

If all goes well this should create a trackback link in the comments section of this post, and will make tracking submissions automatic and painless. If after posting you don’t see the trackback, feel free to post a comment with a link to your entry or email me directly to make sure (josh@pinotblogger.com).

Entries are due by midnight May 23. After that time I will read through each and every submission and send the top submissions to an esteemed panel of judges. The review process will consist of two rounds of voting and discussion to determine the winner. The winner should be announced soon after the contest ends, depending on the workload involved for the judges.

Cash Prize Amount

To encourage submission from as many in the blogosphere as possible, the cash payout will be determined based on the number of entries received. The breakdown looks like this:

0 – 25 entries: $250
26 – 50 entries: $500
51 – 75 entries: $750
100 + entries: $1000

Bottom line: the more people who enter, the more cash you stand to win. So spread the word!

Prize Disbursement

Finally, there are some strings attached to the scholarship prize. Half of the prize will be paid to the winner as cash. That means if you win, you can do whatever you want with it. I thought this was only appropriate given the tough times we’re facing.

Since one of the goals of the Scholarship is to increase the level of formal wine knowledge in the blogosphere, the other half of the prize must go toward a legitimate wine education program. What qualifies as legit is left to my sole discretion, but it can be any number of things: WSET, Master Sommelier, Master of Wine, a college course, etc. I’ll also be happy to discuss other options with the winner as well.

Other Details

* One entry per person y’all.
* Longer isn’t necessarily better. It all depends on your style. If you do go over 1000 words, break the entry into multiple posts. The judges will be taking into account your command of the medium as well as your message.
* I love you. Yes, you.

-The Pinotblogger