Merit Award

The purpose of the ASEV Merit Award is to recognize outstanding individual achievement in the field of enology or viticulture. The area of achievement or excellence shall be in the field of education, technology, research, management, public relations or any discipline directly or indirectly related to enology or viticulture.

Eligibility for this award is based on individuals who have contributed to the progress and advancement of enology or viticulture in an outstanding and distinguished manner for the Society and/or wine industry. There shall be no geographic restrictions for eligibility for this award. Membership in the Society is not a requirement. The award will be given only to individuals and sharing of the award will be approved by the Board of Directors under exceptional circumstances. (Please note, the award is only given posthumously if the recipient was alive when the award was announced.)

Selection of candidates is done by the Awards Committee which provides recommendations to the Board of Directors. The Awards Committee consists of five members of the Society with the immediate past president as chair. The current president appoints the other four members with at least one of the four being a member of the previous year’s committee. These members shall represent both industry and academic affiliation.  The Board reviews the list of recommended candidates presented by the committee and approves a recipient by vote.