This Year’s Theme: “Wine Wanderlust”
Where in the world has your love for wine taken you? Demonstrate this wine wanderlust in your video!
Your approach can be as wide-ranging as the world of wine itself. This “wine wanderlust” can be literal or metaphorical—you don’t need to have actually traveled to a wine destination for it to have inspired you. Maybe your love for wine has fueled the process of learning a new language, like the 2018 Honorable Mention winner “How to Speak Greek.” Perhaps, like 2018 fourth-place winner, “My First Time in France,” you haven’t actually traveled to France, but in your vivid dreams, the experience is pretty amazing! Or, you can share an actual real-life memory from a past trip, like the 2018 third-place winner “Amore Amarone,” which tells the story of a husband and wife’s romantic journey back to Tuscany, where they connected over their love of Italian wine.
For more examples and inspiration, see the free videos posted each week at WineSpectator.com or see the Finalists and Honorable Mentions from past years’ video contests.
Deadline
All entries must be submitted by Monday, Aug. 19, at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Who Can Enter?
Anyone can enter—whether you’re a wine lover, work in the wine or restaurant industry, or are a student of film, culinary arts or viticulture and enology. You do not need to be a pro videographer. You do not need a pro camera set-up. (A past runner-up was shot with an iPhone.) You do need to be at least 21 years old.
Can Wineries Enter?
Videos submitted by wineries or on behalf of wineries are welcome as long as the product placement is minimal. Winery videos will not be chosen as finalists if they open and/or close with branding shots and/or if they repeatedly splash their brand on the screen. A couple low-key label or bottle shots are the limit. If you’re looking to showcase your winery in the video, don’t make it the centerpiece. Instead, tell us a story, educate us, capture our hearts and, most important, tell us how wine captured yours
For an example of a great story that was submitted by a winery, check out 2018 first-place winner “The Soul of Barolo or the second-place winner “I am Brian Benson.”
Judging
Criteria: We’re looking for creativity, great storytelling and strong production quality.
Picking the Finalists: Wine Spectator editors will select the best videos, which will be posted at WineSpectator.com on Monday, Sept. 9.
Picking the Winner: Visitors to WineSpectator.com will vote for their favorite video among the Finalists during the voting period, which runs from Monday, Sept. 9, through Sunday, Sept. 15. Ballot stuffing is prohibited. Compensation may not be offered in return for votes.
Announcing the Winner: The second- and third-place videos, along with honorable mentions, will be revealed Monday, Sept. 16, at WineSpectator.com. The first-place video will be revealed on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
Prizes
1. Grand Prize: The creator of the winning video will receive a pair of full event registrations to Wine Spectator’s Wine Experience in New York City on Oct. 17–19, 2019. Plus, the winning video may be screened at the event as part of the official program. Note: The Grand Prize winner will not receive a Finalist Prize in addition to the Grand Prize.
2. Finalist Prize: The finalists, as chosen by our editors, will each receive a pair of tickets to one of the Grand Tastings at the Wine Experience in New York City on Oct. 17–19, 2019. If they are unable to make that date, finalists may attend any one of the 2020 Grand Tour tastings (dates and locations TBD). Finalists’ videos will be posted at WineSpectator.com.
3. Entry Prize: Everyone who submits a video judged by our editors as a valid submission will receive a 12-month full-access membership to WineSpectator.com, which includes more than 388,000 wine reviews. Current members will receive an extension of their membership. (Only one entry prize per entrant.)
The Rules
- Length: Videos must be a minimum of 30 seconds long and must not exceed 2 minutes.
- The entrant, all persons associated with the video production, and anyone appearing in the video who interacts with wine must be 21 years of age or older. (Proof of age may be requested.)
- Videos must not contain any copyrighted material (including copyrighted background music) unless the entrant has the rights to the material.
- Videos must be the entrant’s original creation.
- Videos cannot contain any profanity, offensive language, nudity or otherwise objectionable material, the determination of which is solely at the discretion of Wine Spectator.
- Wine Spectator is not responsible for any wine reviews or opinions contained in entrants’ videos.
- Videos must be in the English language or subtitled.
- If your video includes persons other than yourself, you must have consent from those persons to appear in your video and in this contest.
- Wine Spectator reserves the right to reject, not to use or make available for public viewing, or at any time remove any video that Wine Spectator finds unsuitable for any reason at its sole discretion.
- Multiple entries are allowed.
- The Finalist who becomes the Winner will receive the Grand Prize (and not the Finalist Prize).
- All submitted videos may be used for promotional purposes by Wine Spectator.
Technical Specifications
The video file size must be no larger than 500MB.
We accept these video file formats: mp4 or mov.
How to Submit Your Video
It’s easy. Complete the entry form and upload your video.
Got Questions?
Email us at video@winespectator.com.