Communicator/Educator

Communicator/Educator Legend – James Smith

Over the past 16 years, James Smith has chronicled, supported and celebrated Australia’s craft brewing industry like no one else. The founder and editor of The Crafty Pint not only gave a grateful nation its beer bible, he also founded the Pint of Origin festival and was part of the team that founded Good Beer Week, becoming the festival’s director for its first five years.

“Telling people’s stories is the thing I like doing the most, and I like to think that’s what we do well at The Crafty Pint,” says the British-born journalist. But that’s not all. As a public face for craft brewers, he has proven a champion for the brewing community, unafraid to tackle the industry’s thorny issues and stepping up as a campaigning force with initiatives such as the pandemic-era Keeping Local Alive campaign.

Gabrielle Moore of East Gippsland’s Sailors Grave Brewing credits Smith as the heart and soul of the craft beer scene. “Everyone looks to The Crafty Pint as the leading voice in craft beer in Australia, whether it’s for trends or news, because he makes sure it’s independent and trustworthy,” she says. “He’s been a supporter of ours since we launched. He actually popped in before we even opened and the validation we got from him was so important. And let’s face it – he’s great, just a lot of fun.”

The future is busy for Smith, with the imminent launch of an Aussie spirits answer to The Crafty Pint. Going by his history, The Full Measure is destined to become the digital campfire for the distilling scene. “I’d like to think in years to come, people will be able to go to The Crafty Pint, either online or to the podcast, and it becomes like a history,” he says. “It’s a time capsule of craft beer in Australia, and I’m proud of that.” 

Communicator/Educator Trailblazer – Sofia Levin

Sofia Levin had her first food writing published while she was in her teens and still studying journalism and psychology at university. Since then, she has never stopped writing stories and reviewing restaurants, but her skills as a communicator have come into their own in her capacity as a host, not least as a judge on MasterChef Australia. Then there’s her website and newsletter, The Seasoned Traveller (hashtag Eat Curiously) which foregrounds her mission to cover “the little guys”, telling the stories behind food businesses across Victoria (and elsewhere) that often fly under the radar of traditional media.

“Mainly because of my age I think, I straddle the world between traditional and social media because I came up at a time when media was changing,” says Levin. “I’m not the young up-and-comer who has millions of followers on TikTok but I’m also not the person who was employed by one place for 20 years. That gave me a freedom to spend more time researching places that are out of the limelight and so are harder to find unless you’re really looking for them. I’m constantly blown away by how generous these businesses and communities are with sharing their stories with a stranger.” 

When MFWF Hall of Famer and MasterChef alum Alice Zaslavsky met Levin, she asked the then-fledgling food writer what she wanted to achieve with her work. “She told me she just wanted to tell people’s stories and that’s exactly what she’s done since then,” says Zaslavsky. “Through her diligent, thorough and thoughtful work, Sofia has flourished, bringing stories to light from so many different cultures and cuisines and in doing so has become something of an ambassador for the industry as a whole.” 

We’re with Zaslavsky when she says she’s “kvelling with naches” at the diverse stories Levin continues to tell.