Terms & Conditions

Information on how to enter and the prizes available form part of these terms and conditions. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these conditions. Entries must comply with these conditions to be valid.

• Entry is open to licensed on-premise venues in Australia.
• Entrants are required to have a minimum of only 25 wines for your wine list to be judged – in addition to your other beverages (beer, aperitifs, digestifs, water, etc).
• Entrants must be 18 years of age or over
• Entrants must submit the completed online entry form, including payment details and PDFs of your wine list and your menu.
• The Awards also require one high-resolution images of your venue for the AWLOTY website and to be used in future promotional activity.
  • This image will be utilised in PR, social media and digital promotion should you be a winner at this year’s event.
  • We kindly ask all images be JPG or PNG files, high-resolution (300dpi) and landscape in dimension (1280 x 720 pixels).
  • Please do not submit an image that has any applied graphics or logos over them.
  • By providing this material, you give AWLOTY and its contractors republishing rights for this image in editorial, digital media and social media channels.
• An audit of finalists may be undertaken, and any misleading or incorrect information will result in disqualification from the Awards.
• All wines must show vintages (except Non-Vintage wines), – including both your Main Wine List and your Wine by the Glass List, or the Judges will not be able to judge your list.
• Your list must have prices shown for each wine/beverage – by the bottle and by the glass (if applicable).
• All lists should include Wines ‘By the Glass’ and volume of wine per Glass pour.
• Hotels with more than one restaurant must submit one entry for each restaurant within the Hotel. Each entry must include the wine list and the menu offered in that restaurant.
• Participating restaurant MUST be in operation at the time of the Awards.
• Participating restaurant must be open to the public or membership and not for private use (example: not staff canteen/restaurant).
• If an Entrant is found to have engaged in conduct that damages or brings their establishment, or anyone connected with it, into disrepute, the Awards may, at their absolute discretion, disqualify the Entrant from the Awards, revoke any previously granted awards and ratings, and remove their name from the Awards records
• Full entry details and information on how to enter are available at winelistoftheyear.com.au.
• The Promoter, it’s employees and immediate families are ineligible to enter.

Details of all awards to be won are as follows:

AUSTRALIA’S WINE LIST OF THE YEAR AWARD includes the 
JUDY HIRST AWARD for the Sommelier responsible for the winning list.
One winner from each State or Territory Wine List Award

• Best Wine List: ACT
• Best Wine List: NSW
• Best Wine List: NT
• Best Wine List: QLD
• Best Wine List: SA
• Best Wine List: TAS
• Best Wine List: VIC
• Best Wine List: WA

One winner from each Venue Type Category Award:

• Australia’s Best Restaurant Wine List – City
• Australia’s Best Restaurant Wine List – Country / Regional
• Australia’s Best Hotel / Resort Dining Wine List
• Australia’s Best Pub Dining Wine List
• Australia’s Best Club Dining Wine List
• Australia’s Best Wine Bar List – Fiona Macdonald Award

One winner from each of the Other Category Awards:

• Australia’s Best New Wine List – Tony Hitchin Award
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 50 wines
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 100 wines
• Australia’s Best Wine List – Maximum 200 wines
• Australia’s Best Food & Wine Matching List
• Australia’s Best No-Lo Alcohol List
• Australia’s Best Listing of Wines by the Glass
• Australia’s Best Champagne List
• Australia’s Best Sparkling List
• Australia’s Best Aperitif List
• Australia’s Best Digestif List
• Australia’s Best Cocktail List
• Australia’s Best Beer List
• Australia’s Best Japanese Sake List
• Australia’s Best Listing of a Single Region’s Wine
• Australia’s Best Listing of Australian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of ACT Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of NSW Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of SA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of QLD Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of TAS Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of VIC Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of WA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of French Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Greek Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Italian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of USA Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of New Zealand Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Organic and Biodynamic Australian Wines
• Australia’s Best Listing of Museum and Rare Wines
• Australia’s Choice Award (Consumer)
• Wine List Service Award

JUDGING PROCESS

A panel comprised of 30+ judges from Australia and overseas (“the Panel”) with expertise in the wine, food and hospitality industries will judge the entries. All entries will be judged individually on their merits based on content, balance, suitability, presentation and pricing of the wines on their wine lists. For further information on the criteria used for judging by the Panel visit www.winelistoftheyear.com.au.

There are multiple rounds of judging each entry. The judges will submit their individual scores to the Chair of the Panel who will determine with the Deputy Chair the winner of each award based on the scores of the individual judges as well as the Chair and Deputy Chair’s own review and further consultation with the members of the Panel, if required. The Panel and the Chair and Deputy Chair’s decisions are final and binding. Award winners and other results of the judging will be published in Qantas Magazine | Travel Insider and Drinks Trade magazine as well as online plus at www.winelistoftheyear.com.au.

Winners will be presented with their Awards at the annual Awards Announcement and Presentation Ceremony held at a designated location and at a designated date each year.
Entries not completed in accordance with these terms and conditions or entries received later than midnight on the closing date cannot be accepted.

The Panel’s and/or the Promoter’s decision in relation to any aspect of the competition is final and binding. No correspondence will be entered into. The Promoter assumes no responsibility for any failure to receive an entry or for inaccurate information or for any loss, damage or injury as a result of technical or telecommunications problems, including security breaches. If such problems arise, then the Promoter may (where necessary with the approval of the relevant lottery authority) modify, cancel, terminate or suspend the promotion.

Entrants may be subject to a random audit by an independent firm of chartered accountants in order to verify the entrant’s submitted wine list matches with the entrant’s wine cellar and/or order records.

There will be a winner in each of the Category Awards and each of the State and Territory Awards. The top point scoring entrants will be eligible for the “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” and the winner – “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” will be decided by all the Australian and International Judges involved in the Awards. The winner of each Category Award, State and Territory Award will receive a specially framed Award Winner’s Certificate and plus a digital Winner’s Certificate and Seal.

Any taxes (excluding GST) which may be payable as a consequence of receiving a prize are the sole responsibility of the winners. Prizes are not transferable and are not redeemable for cash. In the event that any prize becomes unavailable for reasons beyond the Promoter’s control, the Promoter may substitute a prize of equal or greater value.

The Promoter reserves the right to request verification or other details of winners relevant to entry into or participation in this promotion. Verification is at the discretion of the Promoter, whose decision is final. The Promoter reserves the right to disqualify any individual or venue that provides false information, fails to provide information, conspires with others to gain an unfair advantage or who is otherwise involved in any way in manipulating, interfering or tampering with this promotion.

The prizes are subject to the terms and conditions of any third party prize suppliers. The Promoter shall not be responsible or liable for any loss, damage or injury suffered by any winner as a result of the conduct of any third party prize supplier or otherwise as a result of the winner accepting and/or using a prize (even if caused by negligence), except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law. Before the “Australia’s Wine List of the Year Award” prize is awarded, the winner and any other person/s sharing the prize with the winner will be required to sign a form to release the Promoter from, and indemnify the Promoter against, any and all liability arising from the use or participation in the prize.

Entrants confirm and promise that their entry is original and does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party. By participating, entrants agree that ownership of any intellectual property rights in their entry is assigned to the Promoter. The entrant agrees to sign any further documentation required by the Promoter to give effect to this assignment. To the extent permitted by applicable law, entrants unconditionally and irrevocably consent to any act or omission that would otherwise infringe any moral rights in any materials submitted as part of their entry and waive all moral rights in such materials.

Entrants will be refused service of alcohol or provision of an alcoholic beverage prize if it would breach any relevant laws, codes or policies including those of the relevant liquor licensee relating to the responsible service of alcohol. The Promoter supports the responsible service of alcohol.

Entrants consent to the Promoter using their name, likeness, image and/or voice in the event that they are a winner in any media for an unlimited period of time without remuneration for the purpose of promoting this promotion (including any outcome).

Entries remain the property of the Promoter. Details from entries will be collected and used for the purposes of conducting this promotion (which may include disclosure to third parties for the purpose of processing and conducting the promotion) and for promotional purposes surrounding this promotion. By entering this promotion entrants’ consent to the use of their information as described and agree that the Promoter may use this information or disclose it to other organisations that may use it, in any media for future promotional, marketing and publicity purposes without any further reference or payment to the entrant.

Entrants may access, change and/or update their personal information and obtain a copy of the Promoter’s privacy policy by contacting the Promoter at awards@winelistoftheyear.com

The Promoter is Wine List of the Year Awards – ABN 65 002 862 197

10 Arthur Street, Killara, NSW, 2071, Australia.

© Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards 2026.