By Andy Young
The Craft Beer Industry Association has confirmed that the Craft Beer Awards will return for their second year in 2015.
The awards aim to celebrate and recognise the people, the ingredients, the processes and of course, the beer, that go into making up Australia's hugely popular craft beer category.
CIBA, the national body representing the craft beer industry, started the awards in 2014 "to encourage and support excellence in the industry".
The competition, held during Sydney Craft Beer Week, is open to all Australian breweries and brewing companies eligible for CBIA Membership (an Australian brewer producing less than 40 million litres per annum).
Chris McNamara, CIBA's executive officer, told TheShout that the awards are a great platform for brewers to benchmark themselves against the best in the business and also provide great opportunities to the winners.
"Competitions have many benefits for the industry: quality improvement, professional development for participants and providing further marketing opportunities for the successful beers among them. Being able to put Champion Australian Craft Beer on the side of the bottle will be a major coup for one Australian brewer," McNamara said.
Last year, newcomers to the scene, Modus Operandi won the coveted Kegstar Champion Australian Craft Beer award with their beer Former Tenant. Jasmin Wearin of Modus Operandi, said: "The Craft Beer Awards truly reflect the needs and progressive nature of our craft beer industry and is unquestionably the night of nights on the craft beer calendar minus the gold Logies and fake tans."
Entries for the Craft Beer Awards open on Monday 17 August and close Monday 31 August.
In 2015 the Craft Beer Awards will accept entries in both draught and packaged formats. Competition entry and style guidelines can be found on the Craft Beer Awards page of the CBIA website.
The Craft Beer Awards ceremony will be held on Friday 23 October, with tickets going on sale on 4 September.