SIVE announces the start of the application phase for:

5th edition of the SIVE “Italian Research for Development” Award SIVE Versini Award of € 7,500, 2nd edition of the SIVE “International Research for Development” Award SIVE International Award of € 7,500

The sponsoring association

SIVE (Italian Society of Viticulture and Enology) is a nonprofit association with about 500 technicians and 50 companies from all over Italy. Since 1996 years it has been active in the field of training and technical updating and has to its credit the organization of more than 100 conferences, seminars, technical meetings and study tours in Italy and abroad. Since 2005, the SIVE has set itself the goal of “Supporting greater collaboration between production companies and the world of wine and viticulture research,” helping the production world in formulating demand and the research world in defining its supply of knowledge useful for production.

The SIVE VERSINI Award

To achieve the association’s aims, in addition to devoting ample space to Italian research within Enoforum and its other activities, in 2007 SIVE established an award for those researchers who, in addition to carrying out work of high scientific value, direct their research on important and strategic issues for modern viticulture and give particular importance to the application and practical aspects, as well as to the dissemination of their results to producers.

Since 2011, the SIVE Prize has been dedicated to the memory of Dr. Giuseppe Versini, a firm believer in the need to nurture dialogue and collaboration between research and production. A total of 150 papers participated in the first four editions of the Prize, won respectively by:

– SIVE Award 2007: Emilio CELOTTI, Giuseppe CARCERERI de Prati and Paolo FIORINI – “Modern approach to quality management of red grapes.”

– SIVE Award 2009: Raffaele GUZZON, Agostino CAVAZZA and Giovanni CARTURAN – “Immobilization of malo lactic starter. Technology, biological effects and experimental fermentations with O. oeni strain immobilized in hybrid silica/alginate matrices.”

– SIVE G. Versini 2011: Matteo GATTI, S. CIVARDI, F. BERNIZZONI, S. PONI – “Differential effects of bunch thinning and early defoliation on yield, grape composition and wine quality in Sangiovese.”

– SIVE G. Versini 2013: Diana GAZZOLA, S. VINCENZI, A. CURIONI – “Evaluation of the clarifying capabilities of a new protein adjuvant extracted from grape seeds.”

Eligible to apply for the SIVE G. Versini all researchers working in Italian public research centers, even by submitting multiple papers. Papers developed within international collaborations are allowed, provided that at least one of the authors – assignee of the eventual Prize – works in Italy.

The International SIVE Award

In addition to the G. Versini Prize, reserved for researchers working in Italy, the SIVE Board established in 2012 a second Prize, open to scholars from other countries. The initiative stems from the realization that research-even in the field of viticulture-has an increasingly supranational dimension, and aims to facilitate access to scientific information produced abroad by Italian producers and contacts with researchers from around the world.

In the first edition in 2013, 58 papers carried out by 42 research centers in Italy, France, Spain, the US, Canada, Argentina, Chile, Hungary, Brazil and Uruguay participated. The selection process identified the winner of the Prize in:

– Premio SIVE Internazionale 2013: Ramon MIRA DE ORDUÑA – “Completa automazione e controllo delle vinificazioni mediante spettroscopia FT-NIR: Un’innovazione che presenta opportunità rivoluzionarie”.

For Italian researchers, the SIVE INTERNATIONAL Prize represents an additional opportunity for recognition of their research work in an international competition. Italian, European and non-European researchers are eligible to apply for the SIVE INTERNATIONAL Prize. Each author or research group may submit multiple papers.

Method of participation and awarding of SIVE 2015 prizes.

Submission of applications

Authors who wish to nominate one or more research papers completed in the last three years for the SIVE Awards should send the completed form to the SIVE Secretariat by December 19, 2014, enclosing an abstract of the nominated work.

For the SIVE G. Versini the abstract must be in Italian. To compete for the SIVE INTERNATIONAL Prize the abstract must be in the original language and in English. The same paper, if developed by an Italian research group, may at this stage compete for both Prizes.

Work developed in collaboration with private companies supplying machinery, products or services is eligible for the SIVE Awards as long as their name does not appear among the authors and no commercial names are used in the texts. Otherwise, the work may find space at Enoforum 2015 as a module report or as a paid poster.

Selection phase

Abstracts of the research papers received – made anonymous – will be evaluated by the SIVE Scientific Committee based on the criterion “degree of innovation and interest of the topic.”

Papers receiving the highest scores will be the subject of an oral presentation at the 9th edition of Enoforum, which will be held in Arezzo May 5-7, 2015.

For each Prize, at least 12 papers will be selected for oral presentation.

In case a work is among those selected for both Prizes, the author will be asked to opt for one of the two.

Candidate papers that are not selected for oral presentation are automatically admitted to the poster session at Enoforum 2015. The authors will be provided with a space for posting the poster and will be able to publish it in digital format in Infowine magazine, according to modalities that will be detailed in a subsequent specific communication.

Free admission to all Enoforum 2015 conference sessions will be available for each poster.

Evaluation phase

After their presentation at Enoforum 2015, the papers will be evaluated by industry experts and reviewed by the Scientific Committee.

• Industry Technicians: participants of Enoforum 2015 and SIVE Members for the year 2015 are invited to judge the research papers: they will make a judgment based on the criterion “usefulness of the research for the development of wine production.”
• SIVE Scientific Committee: it will again judge the papers against the “scientific value” criterion, based not only on the abstract but on the full version of the presentations.

All presentations and related translations will be video and audio recorded, and made available in the weeks following the event to judges who were unable to physically attend the presentation.

Selection of the winning work

Each Prize provides for only one winning work. The selection of the winning work for the G. Versini Award and the winning work for the SIVE International Award is made by the SIVE Board of Directors based on the findings of the evaluation phase. The choices of the SIVE Board of Directors are final.

Announcement of the winner

Winners will be announced by July 30, 2015; appropriate notice will be given to the technical press and wine professionals worldwide. Audiovisuals of the oral presentations at Enoforum will be disseminated via the web through Infowine magazine, also in different language versions.

Devolution of prize money

The sum of € 7,500 due to the winning work of each of the two Prizes is allocated to the research fund of the author who submits the initial application. Upon the latter’s written indication, it may be donated to other public entities and through agreed upon modalities, provided that the Prize results in research and experimentation activities within the wine sector.