The 2010 Spirited Awards are scheduled for 24 July in New Orleans, "the city where spirits live 24/7" in the organisers' own words. Every year, this Louisiana event brings together the best and brightest of the world of cocktails and mixology. It provides the opportunity to mix with celebrity bartenders and expert mixologists and is considered by many as the 'Oscars of mixology'.

"Through its annual Spirited Awards, Tales of the Cocktail provides recognition to those individuals and establishments that have shown an outstanding talent for advancing the craft of the cocktail. To embody the ideals with which Tales of the Cocktail was originally founded, these awards will provide recognition to both national and international guests.

The event brings together the best and brightest of the cocktail community - award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers - for a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of making drinks. Each year offers a spirited series of dinners, demos, tastings, competitions, seminars, book signings, tours and parties all perfectly paired with some of the best cocktails ever made."

To give you a sense of the scale of the event, Tales of the Cocktails published details of the amount of garnishes that went into making last year a success: 12,000 lbs of ice, 13,884 mint leaves, 14,000 lemons, 192 lbs of sugar, 12,000 bottles of mineral water, 74 gallons of lime juice, 1,375 strawberries, 950 maraschino cherries, 450 cucumber wheels, 640 cocktail recipes and "thousands of souls stirred".

For more details, visit the official Tales of the Cocktail website. You can check out all the cocktail personalities that will be present and purchase tickets online for all the presentations.

You can also nominate for your favourite individuals and bars according to a number of different categories. We've listed them below, together with last year's Spirit Awards winners where available. Remember, all prior winners of a specific category are ineligible to win in the same category.

Tales of the Cocktail Spirit Award Categories

• World’s Best Drinks Selection: a venue stocking an outstanding range of spirits and liqueurs; based on discernment as well as sheer numbers of bottles stocked (2009 winner: Merchant Hotel, Belfast).
• Best American Cocktail Bar: recognises the influence on cocktail trends within the United States and seeks to award the country’s best cocktail bar (2009 winner: Pegu Club, NYC).
• World’s Best Cocktail Bar: some bars attain worldwide recognition and this award recognises the very best of the best (2009 winner: PDT, NYC).
• World’s Best New Cocktail Bar: aims to reward new creativity and ideas as well as well executed drinks; only bars which opened after 1 March 2009 are considered (2009 winner: Clover Club, Brooklyn).
• World’s Best Hotel Bar: recognises hotel bars which uphold the tradition of the classic ‘American Bar’ and offer 5 star service and consistently well made drinks (2009 winner: Merchant Hotel, Belfast).
• American Bartender of the Year: recognises the most influential American bartender today. The winner should be proficient at making all recognized classic drinks and also have created contemporary cocktails that have been copied by his/her peers (2009 winner: James Meehan, PDT).
• International Bartender of the Year: the winner must have received international recognition of their work with their own recipes crossing borders to appear on cocktail menus in numerous countries (2009 winner: Tony Conigliaro, London).
• Best New Cocktail/Bartending Book: the best book published in 2008 regarding cocktails, liquor, bars, bar design or bartending in general (2009 winner: The Essential Cocktail – Dale DeGroff).
• Best Cocktail Writing: this award is for any non-book journalism (magazine, newspaper, website, etc) which promotes bars, bartender, or cocktails in general (2009 winner: Dave Wondrich).
• Best New Product: this is awarded to the best new cocktail ingredient (spirit, liqueur, syrup or juice) or piece of cocktail equipment (muddler, shaker etc.) (2009 winner: Bols Genever).
• World’s Best Cocktail Menu: rewards innovative and thirst inducing cocktail menus (2009 winner: Merchant Hotel, Belfast).
• Best American Brand Ambassador: recognises the importance of personality in the promotion of drinks brands across America (2009 winner: Simon Ford, Plymouth Gin and Pernod Ricard).
• Best International Brand Ambassador: recognises the importance of personality in the promotion of drinks brands and their creative use of brand communication to engage the trade and their ability to execute compelling education and seminars.
• Best Bar Mentor: recognises those individuals who, in their professional life, play a crucial role in raising the quality of bars, bartenders, and cocktails without currently working as a bartender.
• Helen David Lifetime Achievement Award: provides special recognition to individuals who have worked long and hard to change the cocktail and bartending industry and educate the public (2009 winner: Peter Dorelli, London).

Who do you think should win the awards this year? As always, your thoughts and ideas are welcome.