The Whisky List’s Emma Cookson has been named International Wine & Spirit Competition 2024’s Emerging Talent in Spirits Communication.

The Whisky List is Australia’s largest online whisky retailer. In early 2024 it acquired Australia’s largest whisky festival The Whisky Show, which travels across the country year-round showcasing some of the finest local and international whiskies to thousands of whisky drinkers.

Cookson’s win followers her collecting the trophy for 2023 Global Communicator of the Year at the Icons of Whisky Global Awards.

Established in 1969, the International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) was the first wine and spirits competition of its kind. Established to seek out, reward and promote the world’s best wines, spirits, liqueurs and people who work in the industry, it is now in its 55th year.

The prestigious international award celebrates those in the Spirits Communication category, with Cookson announced as the winner following a rigorous judging process.

The IWSC judges said: “Emma Cookson was actually shortlisted for this award last year, and our judges were so encouraged to see how much she has grown over the past year, making her an incredibly worthy winner of the award.

“Our judges praised Emma’s accessible writing style, the way she shares technical information, as well as information about lesser-known areas, without losing her audience, but instead bringing them along for the ride. Emma has a knack for immersing herself so deeply in a subject that she really brings it to life. Our judges were blown away by Emma’s level of detail that goes into her content, her knowledge and passion is palpable, she really lives and breathes it.

“Our judges understood Emma’s frustration of how geography can make you feel detached at times, so it was encouraging for them to see just how Emma would use her winning bursary. Emma hopes to put the money towards travel, visiting the UK and enabling her to conduct more in-person interviews with distillers and distillery managers, as well as using the research trip for both educational content and hopefully a foundation for a book in the future.” Spirits Communication award, a candidate whom our judges said, “could make a real positive impact from this win”.

Cookson said: “This award and my place in the industry wouldn’t be possible without the people who make the whisky that I love and prattle on about so much, so thank you to all the distillers, production managers, blenders, bottlers, my fellow Whisky List team, and everyone else I’m too shell-shocked to name! Massive thank you of course to IWSC for the great work you do shining a light on the incredible producers and talents across the wine and spirits industry.

“And thank you to Fettercairn Whisky for sponsoring this category and helping to lift up and promote people like myself and my fellow insanely talented shortlisters.”

Regarding her communication style and process, Cookson said that The Whiskey List mapped out its communication style in 2023 and worked to develop a program that set out to make whisky educational, fun and accessible for all audiences.

“My goal is to broach the tricky and nuanced aspects of whisky history and production in a way that everyone of any experience level can learn something new from it,” she said.

“I’m so humbled that our work writing about whisky is valued and noticed by international leaders in the industry.

“I’ve visited dozens of distilleries over the past few years which has been an invaluable learning experience and one I want to share with other whisky lovers. At TWL, we’re focusing on exploring new content formats, such as video interviews with distillery staff, and are looking forward to launching a new masterclass series shortly, to complement our highly popular virtual tastings format. If there’s one thing we know, it’s that there is no single way to learn about and celebrate whisky.”

The Whisky List co-founder Oliver Maruda said: “The entire TWL team are incredibly proud of Emma’s win, validating the incredible work she’s put in to making whisky fun and easy to get into. Congratulations Em!”