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WSET hosts annual awards and graduation ceremony
The Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) hosted its first hybrid graduation ceremony this week, waving goodbye to chief executive Ian Harris after 20 years in the role.
WSET staged its annual graduation and awards ceremony on Monday at the Guildhall in the City of London.
Having held a virtual ceremony in 2021, the trust decided to return with a hybrid event this year, marking WSET’s most inclusive graduation ceremony to date with 70% of the year’s graduates from around the globe attending either virtually or in person. Graduates attended from 31 different course providers across 17 countries worldwide.
Among those honoured at the ceremony were 665 new WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines graduates; the highest number of annual graduates ever, bringing the total number of WSET Diploma graduates globally to over 11,500.
WSET chief executive Ian Harris hosted the ceremony during his final week in the role. Harris was joined by Honorary President Paul Symington and Regional Directors Jude Mullins, Dave Rudman and Rachel Webster.
Harris praised this year’s event as “our most inclusive ceremony ever”, with graduates taking part from every country where the WSET Diploma is taught.
He said: “I am so pleased that, in my final year as WSET CEO, we are celebrating our largest ever number of WSET Diploma graduates.”
Outstanding candidates for the 2020/21 academic year were presented with awards and scholarships in recognition of their achievements following the graduate procession.
Jorge André Pais Vaz Nunes from Portugal was the winner of the 2022 Vintners’ Cup. He achieved the highest overall mark globally across all units of the WSET Diploma in the 2020/21 academic year.
Nunes completed his WSET Diploma at AWSEC Hong Kong and works for Symington Family Estates, Hong Kong as Asia Pacific Market Manager.
Thanking his wife, study group, AWSEC Hong Kong and the WSET, Nunes commented: “I feel incredibly honoured to receive this award. The WSET Diploma is not easy and, although I worked hard, I was not expecting to win such a prestigious prize.”
This year regional scholarships were also awarded to the top performing WSET Diploma students in each of WSET’s key business regions. These awards were as follows:
- Napa Valley Asia Pacific Scholarship: Jiaying Deng who studied with ASC Fine Wines, China
- Decanter Americas Scholarship: Kristie Boschman who studied with Fine Vintage, Canada
- IWSC EMEA Scholarship: Iulia Scavo who studied with Esprits-de-Vins, France
- Vintners’ UK Scholarship: Natalie Pezzone who studied with WSET School London, UK
A further WSET Outstanding Alumni Award, sponsored by JancisRobinson.com, is designed to celebrate and nurture a WSET Diploma graduate who is making a notable contribution to the industry. Ferdinand Mayr, a winemaker and lecturer at the Austrian Wine Academy, was this year’s winner.
Ferdinand commented: “It is a very special honour and a surprise for a small winemaker like me to receive this award from WSET. This high-quality international education completely changed my life and led me to become a winemaker and a lecturer at the Austrian Wine Academy.
“To this day, education and training are an essential part of my winemaking life – especially when it comes to assessing wine quality and styles.”
Harris said of his last ceremony as chief executive: “As I prepare to leave WSET and hand over to Michelle Brampton, I am humbled by the ever-extending reach of WSET’s qualifications and their power to transform careers and lives.”