Pub of the Year Guidelines
Pub of the Year Nominations
Pub of the Year Voting
Pub of the Year Voting (Final Round)
Winners
Essex POTY
Potty about POTY? What sounds like a receptacle for the results of a good night out on the beer is actually CAMRA-speak for our annual Pub of the Year awards.
Every year, all CAMRA branches nominate and vote for the favourite pubs in their area. The winners then go on to the county, regional and finally, national awards.
Even at a local level, the award is highly regarded. Just to get a nomination, the pub has to achieve pretty high standards, with the range and quality of its real ales obviously being particularly important. CAMRA members will visit the nominees over several weeks, and then have the chance to vote.
Winners will inevitably receive good publicity in the local media and trade press, resulting in increased trade. But they mustn't be complacent, as we start from scratch every year with no pre-conceptions. Our 2005 POTY, the Red Lion in Kirby-le-Soken (now in Tendring Camra), was not even in the Good Beer Guide at the time - but is proof that we monitor all the pubs in our region, and shows what good Landlords can achieve in a short space of time. In the past, we’ve had some criticism that pubs in central Colchester have been favoured, but the 2006 winner, the Chequers in Goldhanger, is right on the fringe of our branch area, and hardly accessible by public transport – we will go anywhere to find a decent pint!
The difficulty is that everyone has his or her own idea of the ideal pub, which is why it is so important to get as many people voting as possible. EVERY member of Colchester CAMRA can have their say, and the more votes we receive, the greater our confidence that we'll come up with the right result.
Voting Procedure and Schedule
Initial Nominations
There are some 250+ pubs covered by our branch area. Pubs, which were selected to appear in the yearly Good Beer Guides are automatically included in our "long list", along with those nominated by Branch members throughout the year.
You can help our selection process by registering your opinions about any pub you've visited (anywhere, not just for Colchester Camra) on the National Beer Scoring website. The more opinions registered (positve or negative), the better.
Nominations for initial consideration will closed at the end of our August Branch Meeting.
Stage 2 - September/October
The Second Stage is to narrow down these nominations to a short list of six. Traditionally, most of those who have voted in the past come from the Colchester area, so to give a chance to pubs further afield, we specify that the final six comprises three from Colchester "town" and three from outside.
This is where we need your help. ALL branch members can cast their vote for up to six pubs from our "long list". With over 40 pubs to choose from, we certainly don't expect anyone to visit them all, but many people will have visited some of the pubs over the last six months, and this may be the ideal excuse to get round a few more! To help you with your selection, CAMRA have issued guidelines - but ultimately, it's entirely up to you.
You can make your selection in one of five ways
Via this website. On a voting slip, which will be available at our Branch meetings and the AGM in October.
IMPORTANT: All votes must be accompanied by your Name and CAMRA Membership Number. Joint Members each receive a vote each.
Votes will be counted at the AGM, and the announcement of the final six made at the end of that meeting. The results will also be displayed on this website, and to all who are on our Branch E-mail list. (To join this list and receive regular updates of Branch news and events, simply email our Membership Officer).
The Final Voting
Again, every member of the Branch is entitled to a vote. This time round, we will only accept entries via a special page on this site, or on our official Voting form. These will be available at Branch meetings and downloadable from the website.
You MUST have visited ALL of them within the six months prior to voting. As the final date for voting is our January branch meeting, this gives everyone nearly 3 full months to get round a maximum of six pubs - and if they're new to you, what better excuse than to visit pubs which are hopefully the best that North Essex has to offer! We will also try to arrange meetings or social trips to the three rural pubs, if difficult by public transport.
As before, the same selection criteria apply, but this time we ask you to give scores out of 10 on each. This is your chance to let us know what you like from a pub. We only ask that you are honest and sensible in your decisions.
The Results
Will be announced at the January branch meeting which, to avoid any undue last-minute "influence", will be held at a venue not amongst the final short-listed six. Full details will, of course, also be published on the website, via our e-Mail list, local press and in "What's Brewing"