According to Marius Louw, managing director of Du Toitskloof Wines, the competition aims to reward in-depth wine writing about topics that impact the industry, capture the essence of South African winemaking and highlight the unique challenges the industry faces and those shared with its international colleagues. "The competition offers wine writers a platform for raising the bar in wine journalism and, by doing so inspire young, up-and-coming wine writers to follow in their footsteps by not only reporting on the wine industry and its affairs but providing fresh insights to those working in the industry." The topic for this years' competition is The consequences of climate change on the South African Wine Industry and published wine writers need to submit their entry by 27 September 2013. Auditing firm PwC will manage all entries, facilitate the judging process and reveal the winner at a gala dinner to be held in November at Du Toitskloof Wines. The prize money for the winning entry is R30 000. The members of the judging panel, chaired by Dr Gawie Botma of the Department of Journalism at Stellenbosch University, are Erns Grundling, multi-award winning features and lifestyle writer, Maureen Joubert, veteran wine journalist and a past editor of Wynboer (today Wineland), and Prof Ian Glenn who heads the Department of Media Studies at the University of Cape Town. Entries will be judged based on the quality of the research and of the writing, user-friendliness, credibility of sources as well as originality and insight. For more information on the competition and entry requirements please visit www.dutoitskloofwines.co.za/wine writer’s competition