By Andy Young
The second annual Time Out Pub Awards will be returning to Melbourne and Sydney over the coming months.
The awards, which provide a platform for the launch of the Time Out Pub Guides, will return to Melbourne on 18 May and Sydney on 15 June.
In total 10 awards will be handed out in each city, including Pub of the Year, Publican of the Year and Best Pub Revival, which recognises pubs that reinvented themselves over the past year. The Old School Pub Award is a new category for Melbourne and will award a good old fashioned pub that is at the heart of its local community.
A team of Time Out judges will adjudicate nine of the awards, while the People's Choice Award will be judged by Time Out readers.
The top 10 nominations for the Melbourne People's Choice Award were announced today and Time Out readers will have until 5 May to vote for their favourite via the Time Out Melbourne website.
Nominations for Sydney’s People’s Choice Award will be open online from Thursday 30 April, with the top 10 being revealed on Thursday 14 May and open to voting until Friday 5 June, also via the website.
Time Out Melbourne pubs editor, Fred Siggins, said: "Pubs are as integral to Melbourne as AFL and coffee. They're a place for us to hide from the cold of winter, catch up with mates and enjoy communal space in the middle of the city. This year we want to recognise pubs that have great food, great beer, support live music, give us a place to watch the footy when we can't score tickets to the G and those who have revived old boozers that would've otherwise been turned into condos.
"Whether new and shiny or old and daggy, these joints are the beating heart of every Melbourne neighbourhood and are a huge part of what makes this the best city in the world to live."
Anyone wanting tickets to the awards can go out the Time Out Melbourne or Time Out Sydney websites.
The nominations for Melbourne are:
BEST PUB FOOD
Builders Arms Hotel
The Last Jar
The Lincoln
Marquis of Lorne
The Railway, Windsor
BEST BEER LIST
Beer DeLuxe, Hawthorn
The Gertrude Hotel
Great Northern Hotel
The Local Taphouse
The Royston
PUB REVIVAL AWARD
Cherry Tree Hotel
The Empress Hotel
The Lincoln
Marquis of Lorne
St Hotel
BEST LIVE MUSIC PUB
The Curtin
The Prince
The Retreat
The Reverence Hotel
The Yarra Hotel
BEST SPORTS PUB
College Lawn Hotel
Maori Chief Hotel
The Palace Hotel
The Rose
Terminus Hotel, Abbotsford
PUBLICAN OF THE YEAR
Alex Summers, The Alehouse Project
Kieran Yewdall + Michael Shaughnessy, The Catfish
Chris + Penny Hodges, Cherry Tree Hotel
Siobhan Dooley, The Drunken Poet
Russell Griggs, Terminus Hotel, Fitzroy
PEOPLE’S CHOICE
The Alehouse Project
Beer DeLuxe, Hawthorn
The Duke
The Exchange Hotel
The Lincoln
The National Hotel
The Palace Hotel
The Railway, Windsor
Railway Hotel, South Melbourne
Temperance Hotel
OLD SCHOOL PUB AWARD
Announced on the night
LEGEND AWARD
Announced on the night
PUB OF THE YEAR
Announced on the night