Awards

I was pleased to read that the British Guild of Beer Writers has introduced a new category in its annual awards. For beer writing published in electronic media. About time. There's much excellent stuff about beer on the interweb. Some of it not even written by me.

It's a recognition that "proper" writing isn't limited to printed media. That's been true for a decade. Like I said, about time. The small market for specialist beer publications means that not much makes it into print. How many full-time beer writers are there in the world? A dozen? Maybe not even that. Some of the field's most distinguished scribes - Martyn Cornell and Pete Brown, for example - still need other work to survive financially. The arrival of the internet has given hundreds more the possibility of writing about beer. That can only be a good thing.

The quantity and range of beer writing has expanded enormously. Obviously the quality varies, but there are some damn good writers out there. The best easily match those working in physical media. Stonch, Tandleman, The Beer Nut, Boak and Bailey, Impy Malting, to name just a few. They deserve to have their work recognised.

I hope the web's best writers will submit pieces for this year's awards. You don't need to be a Guild member. Come on, show the world how good web writing can be.