There are just four days left to apply for the Geoffrey Roberts Award 2011. Applications must be in by this Thursday 31 March.
Every year we judges choose to give someone £3,000 (about $4,500) to spend on travel that we feel will advance the worlds of food and/or drink. The Award has been given every year since 1996 to commemorate the life and work of pioneer UK importer of New World wines Geoffrey Roberts, pictured here. You may not be a suitable candidate yourself but perhaps you know some potential achiever who just needs a bit of cash to get them started?
All you have to do to apply for this opportunity – available to anyone, anywhere, of any age – is visit www.geoffreyrobertsaward.com (where you can read all about the background to the Award) and choose the How to apply option. The winner will be chosen on the basis of what we judges feel is likely to be achieved as a result of that travel – not so much on a personal level but on a broader canvas. Don't worry if your English is not perfect.
Last year's winner was an exception because he was a particularly articulate refugee from the communications business, Chilean wine producer Derek Mossman Knapp, whose aim with funding from the Geoffrey Roberts Award 2010 was to travel around the underrated Maule Valley in southern Chile, where there are so many old vines and under-rewarded growers, documenting the possibilities and encouraging the best of them to produce serious wine from this great resource.
Please spread word of the Award to anyone you feel might be interested in applying for it. Applications should be made by 31 Mar 2011 via www.geoffreyrobertsaward.com and the winner(s) will be announced in late May or early June.