San Francisco, CA – Today, the Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship Fund, which has been supporting online wine writers for 9 years, announced it’s 9th year of providing sponsorship to wine bloggers, writers, content creators and established amateur content creators.
The weekend of November 10-12, 2017, hundreds of wine bloggers, social media educators and leaders, and wine industry members will gather in Santa Rosa, California, for the tenth annual North American Wine Bloggers Conference (WBC) the premier conference for new media and the wine industry.
This 10th Anniversary Celebration will bring together more than 300 people in the place where the Wine Bloggers Conference began in 2008. Sonoma County has been intimately engaged and influential with wine bloggers for several years, and frequently hosts both media trips as well as virtual tastings for wine writers around the world to experience the breadth of wines available in this region. With the large number of wineries and variety of wines being produced, Santa Rosa is the perfect central location for a deep dive into wine, the wine business, and evolving topics in content creation. Funds are generated by donations from participating wineries and other industry entities as well as generous individuals. In 2016, the scholarship fund assisted 7 wine bloggers in attending the Wine Bloggers Conference in Lodi, and has assisted over 70 individuals over the last 9 years. One hundred percent of the funds supported the scholarships and bloggers received an average of $1000 to attend the conference including registration, travel costs and accommodations.
In 2016, the Scholarship announced a partnership with World’s Best Wine Clubs, a Paso Robles firm specializing in unique wine clubs for fundraising, to create the WBC Scholarship Wine Club. This club offers three small production California wines to members four times a year, and fifty percent of all proceeds go to the WBC Scholarship Fund. This exciting new option allows the Scholarship to partner with wineries from around the state and beyond to provide exposure and raise funds.
Rodney Strong Vineyards and the Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship are eagerly anticipating the Rodney Strong Grant, where they are able to choose an applicant that best represents Rodney Strong’s core values of quality, quantity, consistency, and community spirit.
“We appreciate the continued partnership with Rodney Strong and are so excited that we are growing our relationship” said Thea Dwelle, founder and chair of the scholarship committee. “Many writers do not have the ability to fund a trip that may cost $1000 by the time hotel, flight and conference registration are totaled, and this scholarship provides diverse candidates with a reason and opportunity to join us.”
“We are currently seeking additional funding in order to support as many emerging writers as possible in attending this year’s event. We are excited that we have been able to support digital wine writers for the last 7 years, and look forward to a strong future as wine, food, craft beverage, and travel writing has evolved in the digital landscape” says Dwelle. As an attendee of each annual conference, she has a unique view of how writing has changed over the last 8 years and how influential digital media is. Supporting and mentoring new writers is of the utmost importance to her and the committee.
ABOUT THE WINE BLOGGERS CONFERENCE
The tenth annual North American Wine Bloggers Conference is scheduled to be held in Santa Rosa, CA from Nov. 10-12, 2017. The conference draws hundreds of wine writers, industry members, social media, technology, and writing experts and focuses on intensive learning and networking experiences, as well as local area wine education.
ABOUT THE WINE BLOGGERS CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIP
The Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship is partnered with Enobytes, a non profit organization dedicated to sharing passion and knowledge of wine and food. Enobytes serves a global audience of wine lovers, and takes innovation to the next level with interactive maps, in depth wine reviews, and wine business analysis. The Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship is proud to partner with Enobytes, and offers a 501c eligible donation via this partnership.
The Wine Bloggers Conference Scholarship was founded in 2009 to provide well established amateur content creators with a stipend so they can attend the wine bloggers conference, further their knowledge, their network, the wine blogging community and the wine industry as a whole. The recipients are bloggers who are not affiliated with a winery or other company in the wine industry with a demonstrated financial need. Specific attention is paid to bloggers who post regularly, have never attended the conference before and who are students with a particular focus in wine.
Applicants to the Wine Bloggers Conference are asked to describe their blog, their financial need pertaining to the conference, and why they are deserving of sponsorship. Stipends are awarded through a committee selection process based on the above mentioned focus criteria.
For more information or to make a donation please contact info@wbcscholarship.com or visit http://www.wbcscholarship.com/America. For more information on the Wine Bloggers Conference, please visit http://www.winebloggersconference.org.
