SCHOLARSHIP
The Victorian Wine Show in partnership with the Victorian Government is pleased to announce the inaugural Victorian Wine Industry travel fellowship. This award, to the value of $8000, will allow the recipient to travel overseas to increase his/her knowledge and understanding of a particular grape variety, wine style or winemaking method and to impart that knowledge to the winemaking community of Victoria on return.
Open to:
1. All exhibitors in the 2017 Victorian Wine Show. Applicants must enter at least two wines that can be assessed in conjunction with the written application.
2. Viticulturists and grape growers whose grapes are used to make wines entered in the 2017 Victorian Wine Show. Applicants must provide details of the wines entered and their reason(s) for selecting them.
Note: It is not a requirement for success that the submitted wines achieve high scores in the 2017 wine show. It is more important that they provide a practical demonstration of ideas outlined in the written application.
Applicants must:
1. Enter at least two wines in the 2017 Victorian Wine Show or nominate at least two wines entered in the show that were made from grapes grown by them.
2. Submit a 500 to 1000-word statement outlining their proposed travel destination(s), what they hope to achieve/learn there, how at least one of their show entries reveals the development of their interest in the wine style/region chosen as their destination
3. Be able to travel and complete the overseas component of the scholarship by June 2018
4. Agree to share the knowledge gained overseas with the Victorian wine industry by publishing a paper in a recognised industry publication within three months of their return from overseas
5. Agree to deliver a short (ten minute) address at the 2018 Victorian Wine Show Awards Presentation lunch.
The written application will be required to show evidence of the applicant's ability to:
a)learn from exposure to new ideas and approaches
b)share,in a productive way, knowledge gained from travel and research
c)appreciate and understand the historical perspective surrounding a grape variety, region or production technique
The application should also provide some background information and brief professional history. It would be useful to include some detail about possible mentors and factors that stimulated interest in the chosen wine style, variety or region.
Finally, the application should clearly demonstrate how the Victorian wine industry will benefit from the applicant's travel.
While the closing date for wine show entries is 30th September 2017, we are happy to receive written applications for the scholarship until 20th October 2017.
Applications will be assessed by the Victorian Wine Show committee together with the show results and the winner will be announced at the 2017 Awards presentation lunch on November 14th 2017.
The selection committee will comprise:
Mr Robert Paul, Director, Victorian Wine Show
Professor Bruce Wilson, Director EU Centre at RMIT University
Mr Andrew Santarossa, Chief Judge 2017 Victorian Wine Show
Mr Geoffrey Shenfield, Chairman, Victorian Wine show