The 2015 Eat Drink Blog writing competition is more exciting than ever and we have some fabulous prizes thanks to the generosity of our sponsors!

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The competition comprises three categories:

• Recipe writing award
• Restaurant review writing award
• Food narrative writing award

Before entering, please take the time to read and understand the Terms and Conditions and Eligibility Criteria.

The competition opens on Monday 3 August at 8pm. Entries must be submitted by Friday 18th September at 11.59pm.  Winners will be announced at the Eat Drink Blog conference dinner in Canberra on Saturday 17 October.

THE PRIZES

Thanks to the awesome generosity of our sponsors – Baker’s Secret, CorningWare, OXO, The Essential Ingredient Canberra and Capital Wines – we have a range of wonderful prizes for the winners.

Firstly, from The Essential Ingredient Canberra, each of the category winners will receive a set of mini copper saucepans (7cm, 9cm, 12cm) valued at $161.95. The pans comprise polished 3mm-thick copper with stainless steel lining and brass handle. With even heat distribution and instant reaction to temperature change, these are perfect for kitchen-to-table cooking, and suitable for all cooking surfaces (except induction).

Secondly, from Capital Wines, the award-winning Canberra district wine company, each of the category winners will receive a selection of wines.

Recipe writing category – Baker’s Secret prize pack

 The winner of the recipe writing award will also receive a Baker’s Secret prize pack.

Baker’s Secret, the original non-stick bakeware, is giving you the chance to win a set of baking essentials valued at over $215. The prize pack includes everything you need to bake up a storm, including three muffin pans, cookie pan, cookie sheet, pudding steamer, loaf pan, brownie pan, spring-form cake pan and two tart pans.

With decades of manufacturing experience behind every product, Baker’s Secret guarantees superior baking results every time. For more information on Baker’s Secret head to www.bakerssecret.com.au and like the www.facebook.com.au/bakerssecretau to stay up to date with the latest product news, trends and baking tips!

Narrative writing category – CorningWare prize pack

The winner of the narrative writing award will also receive a CorningWare prize pack.

CorningWare, renowned for its premium quality bakeware, is giving you the chance to win a bumper set of cooking staples valued at over $225. The set is ideal for the home chef or entertainer and includes a 5.2L Dutch oven with glass cover, pie plate, four ramekins and round and oval baking dishes.

CorningWare is ultra-convenient, allowing you to cook, bake and serve in the same dish, meaning less time washing up and more time entertaining. For more information on CorningWare, see www.corningware.net.au

Restaurant review writing award – OXO Greensaver prize pack

The winner of the restaurant review writing award will also receive an OXO Greensaver prize pack.

With masterful design to meet all your kitchen needs, OXO is giving you the chance to win a pack of Greensaver Produce Keepers. With an activated carbon filter, elevated baskets to promote airflow and adjustable vents to control humidity, the range has been designed to keep produce fresher for longer, wasting less and saving more.

The prize pack has a combined value of $260, and includes a 1.5 litre, 4 litre and 4.7 litre produce keeper, crisper insert and four pack of carbon refills. The OXO Greensaver range is available in Australia from August.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Please be sure to read the full eligibility criteria and terms and conditions below. This competition is only open to Eat Drink Blog 2015 delegates that meet the eligibility criteria described in this document.

Entries for the competition will be based on blog posts published within the last six months, up to and including the closing date, between 2 February 2015 and 18 September 2015.

The post entered will be on any food-related subject, but the entry must fall into one of these categories:

• Narrative
• Recipe
• Restaurant Review

All entries will be judged on originality, a distinctive personal voice, clarity of expression and the degree to which each entry engages the attention of the reader. Chance plays no part in the selection of the winners.

For the ‘narrative’ category, the entry may be about a food travel experience, the headnote for a recipe, or an article about an aspect of food that interests, excites or frustrates you.

For the ‘recipe’ category, the judges will be looking at evidence of culinary knowledge, accuracy and a good understanding of clear and succinct recipe writing.

In the case of the ‘restaurant review’, the judges will be looking at accuracy, evidence of culinary knowledge, a degree of objectivity and attention to general aspects of the restaurant experience.

The word limit for entries in both the ‘narrative’ or ‘restaurant review’ is 1000 words. If the narrative post includes a recipe, the head note or story supporting the recipe will be judged, not the recipe itself. Therefore, the ingredients and methodology are not included in the word count. Entries in the ‘recipe’ category are exempt from the word limit.

Delegates may participate in more than one category (i.e. send in two different entries for two different categories).

HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION

To enter, submit ONE entry per category (a max of three different posts): Narrative, Recipe or Restaurant Review. Send an email to [email protected] with:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• The name of your blog and website address
• The category you are entering (i.e. narrative, recipe or restaurant review)
• Your social media IDs
• The URL of the post you’re entering, plus a PDF attachment of the blog post with text only (no images, please).

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION

 About You and Your Blog

• You are an approved Eat Drink Blog 2015 delegate.
• Your blog must be at least six months old.
• You are not a commercial blogger, for example, those blogging only for money or as part of their job, or a chef blogging for a restaurant, or business owner/staff blogging for a brand.

 About your entry

• Each entrant will be permitted only ONE entry.
• The entry must be from a blog post which has been published in the last six months leading up to the closing date of the competition
• The entry must be an original entry for your blog, i.e. not written for an online publication, newspaper or magazine.
• Original posts may be edited for length and clarity so that the entry is understandable without the original photographs.
• You have checked that you meet the eligibility criteria and you have followed the dot points listed under ‘How to enter the competition’.
• It is the entrants’ responsibility to inform Eat Drink Blog if their email address changes during the competition period.

 Competition and Usage

• Any submissions that don’t meet the above criteria will not be included for consideration by the judges.
• By submitting your writing to the competition, whilst you retain copyright of the writing, you give the current and future organisers of Eat Drink Blog and their assigns a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute them.
• As well as the above rights of use, if you are a winner of one of the competition prizes, you also give permission to the writing competition sponsors and their assigns to use the details of your winning submissions in media releases regarding the 2015 Eat Drink Blog writing competition.
• Decisions made by the Eat Drink Blog organising committee, such as validity of entrants or entries, and decisions by the judges regarding the winners of the competition are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• 2015 Eat Drink Blog organising committee members, our sponsors (and their employees) associated with this competition are not eligible to enter.

 THE JUDGES

Wendy Johnson

Wendy graduated with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada a few decades ago. She’s been living in Australia since 1995, having fallen in love with eucalypt trees and kangaroos. Wendy is passionate about Canberra and all the nation’s capital has to offer. She loves to write (about everything and anything) and owns her own pr and advertising business. In addition, Wendy has been writing tasty food reviews for CityNews for more than a decade, which has taken her up a full dress size. Not that she minds …

 Liz Posmyk

A vintage Canberran, Liz is an award-winning food writer who has combined her passion for cooking and sharing recipes for many years. She was a member of the committee instrumental in establishing the ACT Writers Centre (no apostrophe), and is well known for her blog, Good Things and, previously, her weekly newspaper column and 666 ABC radio segment. Liz earned the nickname ‘bizzy lizzy’ juggling the role of promotions manager of the Belconnen Markets with co-ownership of Canberra’s leading cooking school and cookware specialist. Across a decade, she managed a program of events that welcomed some of the world’s leading cookery writers and celebrity chefs to Canberra. Now retired from full time work, Liz spends her days cooking, writing and travelling with her partner and sous chef, Peter.

Thanks so much to our generous sponsors!

Any questions please email [email protected]. Good luck!

We are delighted to announce that we have partnered with a couple of hotels around Canberra that are offering some pretty special discounts which you will no doubt appreciate. Thank you to our accommodation partners for putting on some amazing deals for our attendees.

Capital Hotel Group

The Capital Hotel Group includes four hotels spread around Canberra. These are: The Avenue, Aria Hotel, Clifton Suites and the Pavilion.

Image from The Aria Hotel

If you decide to book a room at any of the four hotels, you will receive a 15% discount on the best available rate. Please quote the booking code EATDRINK at the time of booking to receive your discount.

There are a number of ways to make a reservation:

By Phone: You can call our central reservations team on 1800 828 000 (Free call) or (02) 6247 6888. When you call let our friendly team know that you are with the Eat Drink Blog 6 conference.  All bookings made by phone require payment at the time of reservation. No credit card surcharges will be applied.

Online: You can book via our website www.capitalhotelgroup.com.au. All bookings made via our website require payment at the time of reservation. No credit card surcharges will be applied.

1. Select the property you wish to book.

2. Select the dates you wish to book in and click ‘Book Now!’ located on the homepage.

3. In the top right hand corner enter your special personal code of EATDRINK.

4. Your rate will then appear and you can continue with your reservation.

By Email: You can email our central reservations team at [email protected] with the dates and details for your bookings and quote the special code of EATDRINK. All bookings made by email require payment at the time of reservation. No credit card surcharges will be applied.

Image from The Pavillon

QT Canberra Hotel

The QT Canberra Hotel is located in the city centre. It is a boutique eclectic hotel that even has its own barber shop! If you decide to make a reservation at the QT Hotel you will be treated to a 20% discount on the best available rate at the time of booking.

To make a reservation at the QT Hotel please email [email protected] and let Jemma know that you are attending the Eat Drink Blog 6 Conference.

Image from QT Hotel

The Tradies Quality Hotel Dickson

The Tradies Quality Hotel is a multi-award winning 4-star Hotel located in the famous Dickson food precinct and is only minutes from the city and a variety of Canberra’s leading attractions. The Tradies Quality Hotel Dickson is offering our attendees a special rate on their Twin/Double Rooms at $138 per night.

When making a reservation at The Tradies Quality Hotel, please quote the booking code Eat Drink Blog to receive this special rate and your Local Produce Welcome pack.

Hotel Hotel

If you’ve seen the Hotel Hotel entrance, you just know their rooms are going to be as equally cool!  And each of their rooms is unique. Situated in the trendy New Acton Precinct, you’ll be sure to be close to many of the EDB 6 events! Hotel Hotel is offering extremely reduced rates on their boutique rooms:

Original Rooms: $255

Creative Rooms: $295

Meandering Rooms: $375

Please note these rates will be subject to availability. The rates are valid between the 15th and 19th of October 2015.

To make a reservation at Hotel Hotel please email [email protected] or phone 02 6287 6287 and quote the booking code EAT151015.

Image from the web

The time has come!

Registration for Eat Drink Blog 6 in Canberra is now live and you can purchase tickets here.

If you haven’t already done so, please make sure you read FAQs and important information here before purchasing tickets.

And if you need to refer back, the full conference program can be found here.

We hope to see you in Canberra!

When can I register?

We’ve decided to delay opening registration by just three days because we want to give you more time to be ready for this. So that means registration will now open on Monday 20th July at 8pm.

How many delegate positions are available for EDB6?

There are 100 delegate positions available this year, which we think gives more of you a chance to experience EDB but still keeps the intimate nature of previous conferences.

There are 30 delegate positions available for ACT bloggers. We’ve had to think long and hard about this to make things fair for both local and interstate bloggers so we hope you agree that this is a fair decision. If there are interstate delegate positions vacant with two weeks remaining, we will open these up to more ACT bloggers.

How will delegates be selected?

There are strict selection criteria for EDB 6 (as in previous years). You must satisfy ALL THREE criteria items to be an eligible delegate, so please read them carefully and only register if you satisfy all three.

When we open registration at 8pm on Monday 20 July it will be ‘first in best dressed’ given you satisfy the criteria outlined below.

1. Your food blog or micro-blog (Instagram/Tumblr that is focussed on food)  must be at least six months old (as at Monday 20 July 2015)
2. You must have published a minimum of 6 food-related posts in your blog or 25 food related posts in your micro-blog
3. You must not be a commercial food blogger i.e. those blogging only for money or as part of their job (a chef blogging for a restaurant or business owner/staff blogging for a brand).

Please note that the organising committee will be going through each of the registered delegates blogs and if you do not meet ALL THREE selection criteria items we will have to make your place available for someone else and we will refund your ticket price, minus a $25 administration fee.

Will there be a registration fee?

Yes, there will be a registration fee this year – we are just dotting the final i’s and crossing the final t’s, and we will be able to reveal the exact cost on Monday night. But rest assured, it won’t be exorbitant, and it will be amazing value for what will be a whole weekend of eating, drinking, foodie experiences and blogging education from some of the best names in the business.

Your registration fee covers all food and drink provided by our partners during the weekend (Friday dinner; Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner; and Sunday breakfast and dinner), delegate pack and transport between conference venues. Accommodation is at delegate’s expense – we will soon be announcing some great value accommodation deals with our partners, with something to suit every budget.

Why have you introduced a registration fee?

As you probably know, Eat Drink Blog has historically been a conference that is free for delegates to attend, and past organising committees have had to depend entirely on the generosity of sponsors to put the conference together. Hence, previous committees faced many limitations; the two biggest factors were: having to restrict delegate numbers due to limited funds and work within a very strict budget, both of which stretches committee resources very thin.

This year, we have decided to introduce a registration fee for a number of reasons:

• The extra funds give us an opportunity to bring to you not just a conference, but an experience. We will break away from the traditional conference mould and learn in a more fun, interesting and interactive way whilst enjoying the foodie hotspots of Canberra
• The little extra money means that we are able to give more of you the opportunity to experience Eat Drink Blog
• More delegates = more event coverage = more exposure for sponsors = happier sponsors who are willing to give more
• This provides a platform for future EDB committees to try new things and have a little more freedom and a little less stress when it comes to taking on the task of organising the conference.

We hope this makes sense and we hope you will support us on this decision as it hasn’t been taken lightly.

What happens if the conference makes a ‘profit’?

It is important to note that the registration fee has been decided on a cost-recovery basis only. If there is any money leftover at the end of the conference, it will be transferred across to the organising committee for EDB7.

Still have questions?

If you have any questions between now and Monday night about the registration process or eligibility criteria please email us on [email protected] and we promise to reply to you within 24 hours.

So the only thing left to do now is if you meet all three selection criteria items mentioned above set your alarms for 8pm on Monday 20th July. We will post the link to buy tickets here, on our Facebook page and Twitter! We are super excited to see you in Canberra!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.

We know that we’ve kept you waiting for this and we are extremely grateful for your patience. So here is the full program for EDB6!  Your organising committee has been working their hardest to put together a program that is educational and informative for both experienced bloggers as well as those who are in the early stages of their blogging journey. We also wanted to bring a different style of learning to this event and also wanted to share our favourite foodie stops of Canberra with you. With this in mind, we hope we have managed to put together an experience, not just a conference. It’s a program that takes you around Canberra where you can learn on the go, meet and interact with people in the food industry, eat and drink the best things this city has to offer and network with your fellow bloggers whilst participating in fun and educational activities. Of course we have a great line up of speakers to educate and inspire you as well.

A huge thank you goes to our major sponsors HerCanberra for working around the clock to put this program together!

We hope you like what you see and please stay tuned as details on conference registration will be released in a few days.

Friday 16 October

4.45pm  Registration at The Hamlet

5.00pm Welcome by ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr followed by canapés and live music

6.30pm Small business taste and discovery (three groups rotating through three business to taste and tour)

• Frugii Dessert Laboratory:  ice cream tasting and demonstration
• Hopscotch cocktail experience
• Marble & Grain: whiskey and food matching

9.00pm Nightcap and pre-conference networking at Lucky’s Speakeasy at QT Canberra

Saturday 17 October 

7.45am  Delegates picked up from central accommodation points and transferred to Capital Region Farmers Market

8.15am Local producers breakfast and cooking demo by CIT Young Chefs

10.30am  Delegates transferred to Westside Acton Park

11.00am  Keynote speaker address by Matthew Evans at Aviary Bar, Westside

12.00pm  Lunch at Westside Acton Park

12.45pm Walk across to Nishi Gallery 

1.00pm  Stirring the Pot on Restaurant Reviews by Wendy Johnson

1.45pm  SEO and Social Media by Todd Wright

2.30pm Afternoon tea

3.00pm   Food Styling by Tess Godkin

3.45pm   Smart Phone Photography and Videography by Alice Lau

4.30pm   End of presentations for the day

6.00pm  Delegates picked up from central accommodation points and transferred to dinner.

6.30pm  Regional Produce Dinner at A.Baker. Competition winners announced

9.00pm  Delegates transferred back to central accommodation points

Sunday 18 October

8.30am  Breakfast at Nishi Gallery featuring local food and drink, supplied by The Fix Cold Pressed Juices, The Muesli Bar, A.Baker and Six8 Coffee Roasters

9.00am  Panel Discussion: Is Fulltime Blogging the Holy Grail? Featuring Amanda Whitley from HerCanberra, The Merrymaker Sisters and Liz Posmyk

9.45am  Fitting It All In- How to build your blog when you are too damn busy by Carly Jacobs

10.30am How to Self-publish Your Cookbook by The Merrymaker Sisters

11.15am  Delegates transferred to their activity/stream of choice

12.00pm  Lunch and activities

• The team from ONA Coffee’s specialist coffee house, The Cupping Room, will recreate the world-title winning performance of World’s Best Barista Sasa Sestic. Followed by lunch at
• Experience the foodie movement in Canberra to revitalise to suburbs- lunch at Two before Ten, Aranda
• Canberra region wine education session at The Canberra Wine House
• Cooking demonstration and lunch at The Boathouse by the Lake
• Beer making and tasting tour at Bentspoke Brewery

2.00pm  Official end of EDB 6 and delegates transferred back to central accommodation points

(Please note that whilst we will endeavour to bring you this exact program, slight changes may need to take place due to factors beyond our control. However, we will strive to maintain the quality of the program as it is mentioned here)

Registration are now open, purchase your ticket here!

Wendy graduated with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada a few decades ago. She’s been living in Australia since 1995, having fallen in love with eucalypt trees and kangaroos. Wendy is passionate about Canberra and all the nation’s capital has to offer. She loves to write (about everything and anything) and owns her own pr and advertising business. In addition, Wendy has been writing tasty food reviews for CityNews for more than a decade, which has taken her up a full dress size. Not that she minds …

Please welcome Wendy to Eat Drink Blog 6!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.

Image from Capital Region Farmers Market

We are thrilled to announce that this year, the EDB 6 conference will be starting off with something special. Instead of rocking up at a conference centre you will be getting some VIP treatment at the one and only Capital Region Farmers Market – Canberra’s original, biggest and best farmers market!

The Capital Region Farmers Market started with a bunch of roses and a bunch of Rotary guys. The idea of a farmers market was born back in 2003 when the Rotary Club of Hall was selling roses at the Old Parliament House Rose Gardens and one of the members was also trying to sell his own produce but having some difficulties. It was the perfect timing to develop a farmers market as there were many other small producers starting out and needing an outlet to sell their goodies!

Whilst they started as a market with just 15 stalls and 500 customers, they now host around 100 stalls and welcome over 6000 customers every Saturday morning at Exhibition Park in Canberra!

Image from Capital Region Farmers Market

The markets not only provide fresh farm and food produce straight from the producer to the consumer but also provide an opportunity to discuss with growers so you truly get the full experience from ground to plate!

You are in for a serious treat! Capital Region Farmers Markets have something pretty special for you all: the visit will include some cooking demonstrations, some Q&A sessions and lots of delicious local goodies (and boy do we have some amazing producers!)! Finer details to be revealed in due course.

In the mean time, stay tuned for some more announcements about speakers, venues. And we PROMISE, the full programme and details on registrations will be coming soon! In the mean time, thanks for your patience!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.

You may know them as Carla and Emma, but most likely you will have heard of them as The Merrymaker Sisters - on a mission to make health and happiness the world’s default! In 2012, they set off on a journey and discovered a different way of living. Fed up of feeling sick and all the fad diets out there they decided to “follow their bliss” (you’ll hear them mention the world bliss A-LOT, especially on their Instagram!). They started following a natural real food lifestyle and sharing all of their recipes on their blog. The girls have achieved numerous amazing things since 2012, including publishing a series of recipe books, travelling around the world to attend “blissful” conferences and most importantly they feel a billion times better than what they used to!

If you are a Canberran woman, you would have definitely heard about or read an article from Her Canberra – Amanda’s baby. Amanda is the editor of Her Canberra (and also happens to be on the organising committee of EDB 6), a website designed to connect women (and men) to their city and to each other. When Amanda found herself housebound caring for an unwell child and her big sister, she had a lightbulb moment: a multi-contributor website which would showcase the talents of local Canberra women and focus on ‘life’ in Canberra. Stories that would encourage people to see just how much this city has to offer. And 5 years later the website attracts over 130K monthly readers. Follow Her Canberra on Instagram or Facebook  to keep up to date with all things local.

Liz Posmyk is an award-winning food writer who has combined her passion for cooking and sharing recipes for many years. Currently blogger at Good Things, in her previous life Liz wrote a weekly newspaper column and featured on 666 ABC radio. Also known as Bizzy Lizzy, she earned the nickname juggling the role of of promotions manager of the Belconnen Markets with co-ownership of Canberra’s leading cooking school and cookware specialist.Now retired from full time work, Liz spends her days cooking, writing and travelling. You will be hearing from Liz soon regarding the annual EDB Writing Competition! Follow Liz on Facebook or on her blog.

We will be announcing the EDB 6 program soon and registrations shortly after! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.

Wielding her smartphone in one hand and wooden spoon in the other, Alice Lau went from designer, to student chef, to Instagrammer and YouTuber all in three years. She is a blogger and a foodie currently based in Canberra who is self taught in mobile photography and videography. Alice will share with our delegates the journey and process behind her multimedia creations. Check out Alice’s blog and her YouTube channel for plenty of inspiration and a little teaser of things you could learn from her.

Tess Godkin specialises in food photography as well as wedding and portrait photography. She is the photographer for the popular food & lifestyle blog You, Me & The Sea and has photographed food in many of Canberra’s top restaurants. Tess recently photographed The Capital Cookbook II published by Quicksand Publishers and has worked on food photography projects for Lumon Macarons, Nourished Hub, Coordinate, Westfield Belconnen’s dining precinct & Local Liquor’s SoVino Magazine. Tess is a wizard at food styling as it is evident here and she will share styling and photography tips with our delegates.

Please welcome Alice and Tess to Eat Drink Blog 6!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.

We can’t wait to share the full EDB 6 program with you, because this year the program will be looking a little different. But for today, read on to find more about The Hamlet which you will be hosting you on Friday night and Westside Acton Park, which you will be saying hello to on Saturday.

The Hamlet

No we are not talking about anything to do with Shakespeare, we are talking about the exciting food hub in Canberra’s hippiest suburb – Braddon! By converting an old car garage Nik Bulum (the property developer) has provided a semi-permanent home to Canberra’s street food trucks and vendors. It is a truly unique space which attracts a variety of customers! And when we say a variety, we mean a variety! With food options from all over the world (and more) there is food for every tastebud out there! You can choose to have pizza from Custom Pizzeria, peruvian food from Mr Papa, a hot dog from Broddogs or for the sweet tooths out there – a special donut from Nookie Espresso Bar and colourful milkshakes from April’s Caravan! And when you are done with food, make sure to take a stroll through the artisan boutiques selling locally made produce!

Westside Acton Park

If we say roof top bar – do you get excited? We certainly do!  Enter The Aviary Bar – Canberra’s first roof top bar found in the recently opened “pop up container village”  – situated on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin! Yes, a container village – home to a series of food vans, a basketball court, a drive through coffee, a gym and lots of street art! Westside Acton Park is an eclectic precinct where on any one day you could see Nick Kyrgios playing basketball, a market selling local produce, arts and crafts or a concert!  The central square is surrounded by cafes, restaurants and shops so you are guaranteed something will be happening whenever you visit Westside Acton Park.

We will be announcing more speakers, venues and activities over the next weeks and registration for EDB 6 will open very soon! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date!

Registrations are now open! Purchase your ticket here.