The Online Scotch Whisky Awards (OSWAs) - A Guide
Check out the website for the OSWAs: https://www.oswa.co.uk/
As I write this, voting is ongoing for the third edition of the Online Scotch Whisky Awards (OSWAs) - the 2023 nominations were announced in September by Roy (Aqvavitae) and Ralfy, two of the most well-known whisky-focused YouTube channels. This platform is an enthusiast-driven, transparent, online award scheme built to celebrate the best whiskies that the industry has to offer, both within Scotland, and outside it.
A bit of history
The first edition of the OSWAs took place in 2021 - YouTube-based whisky commentators Roy Duff (Aqvavitae) and Ralfy Mitchell (ralfydotcom) joined together to present a new style of whisky awards, celebrating the best the industry has to offer. The awards started with eight different categories, which is close to the current format - there are now nine categories, with six nominations in each. The winners in the last couple of years have show the award scheme’s emphasis on quality, transparency, reasonable pricing, and wide distribution.
What it’s all about
The core principles of the OSWAs are those same we just mentioned - quality, transparency, reasonable pricing, and wide distribution. While many award ceremonies for spirits are much more opaque, and often pay-to-play, the OSWAs are all about unveiling the processes behind the awards and celebrating distilleries and brands that are providing quality spirits to the enthusiast.
Though these aren’t official requirements for any entry, you’ll see these themes across the nominees: bottling strength at or above 46% ABV, lack of added coloring, and lack of chill-filtration. While age statements in scotch whisky are a strong tradition, and some drinkers still look for that signal on the label, the non-age-stated (NAS) whisky category is growing in popularity all the time… that’s been reflected in this year’s nominees, as well.
The structure
The OSWAs are divided into nine whisky categories, and there are three distinct phases in the nomination and voting process.
In the first phase, core contributors from the online whisky community are gathered and polled to create a list of possible nominees in each categories. While there are around 65 total contributors from YouTube and a variety of other online platforms such as websites, blogs, and podcasts, roughly 15-20 are identified as ‘core contributors’ each year; in theory, this is anonymous and will rotate between contributors from year to year.
The second phase of the process takes place after the core contributors have submitted their nominations - the rest of the contributors are able to see them, and all contributors then vote together to come up with the list of six final nominations in each of the nine award categories.
After the nominations are announced publicly in a nomination show, the polling becomes public, allowing anyone with a Google account to submit their vote concerning their favorites in each category. These public votes will determine the final winner in each category.
In addition to a winner from the nominees in each category, there is also an open public vote for each category - these ‘people’s choice’ awards will be presented in conjunction with the main winners during the awards ceremony, in case there are popular options that were missed in the official nominations.
The categories
Here’s an overview of the nine categories that can be voted on:
1. Best Value Whisky
2. Best Blended Whisky
3. Best Blended Malt Whisky
4. Best Non-malt Whisky
5. Best Distillery
6. Best New Distillery
7. Best Independent Bottler
8. Best World Whisky
9. Best Scotch Whisky
Our role:
And I don’t just mean us, as the writers, here - I mean all of us enthusiasts in the whisky community, online and beyond. The best way for us to help the OSWAs gain steam is to participate in the voting process ourselves, and to spread the word about the awards to gather participation from others in the community.
