Scotland Loves Local Awards: Celebrating Community Champions – Scottish Business News

Nominations have officially opened for the 2024 Scotland Loves Local Awards, inviting individuals to highlight the champions within their communities working tirelessly to create a better and stronger future for people and places across the country. Organised by Scotland’s Towns Partnership (STP), the awards aim to recognise and reward the outstanding efforts contributed to the vitality and sustainability of Scotland’s towns and neighbourhoods.

The awards will honour High Street Heroes from across the nation and will see one place crowned as the nation’s Town of the Year. The awards will also celebrate the innovation of organisations and enterprises that drive economic success by attracting investment and delivering transformative changes in their areas.

Kimberley Guthrie, STP Chief Officer, said: “The desire to make a difference and create a new future for Scotland’s communities should never be underestimated.

“We see every day how hard work and innovation is helping people and places to manage the cost of living, tackle the climate emergency while transforming places to become better, fairer, more attractive and successful.

“The Scotland Loves Local Awards are a chance to shine a spotlight on the determination and collaboration which really is improving lives in so many ways.”

Award Categories

Nationally, the awards will be presented in the following categories:

• Town of the Year
• Most Enterprising Community
• Place Leader of the Year

Additionally, eight High Street Hero Awards will be presented, recognising individuals who go above and beyond to make their communities better places to live, work, and visit. These awards will be distributed across the Scottish Parliament electoral regions: Central Scotland, Glasgow, Highlands and Islands, Lothian, Mid Scotland and Fife, North East Scotland, South Scotland, and West Scotland.

Supporting Local Innovation

The Scotland Loves Local movement, spearheaded by STP and supported by the Scottish Government, encourages people to create a better community future by choosing local.

This year marks the fourth edition of the awards. Technology solutions company Vicinity, which collaborates with councils and business improvement districts to provide data and audience insights to promote local places and economies, is sponsoring the Town of the Year category.

Henry Jinman, Chief Executive Officer of Vicinity, said: “Our work gives us a fascinating insight into what makes places tick and we are delighted to work alongside STP to help foster a culture of innovation and collaboration in Scotland’s Towns and Places.

“That is why we are delighted to be supporting the Town of the Year category, to shine a spotlight on fantastic work being carried out by organisations and individuals across the country, making a real difference to places and the people who live there.”

How to Nominate

The closing date for the nominations is 5 pm on Friday, August 23rd 2024, nominations can be made on  www.lovelocal.scot/awards where the full category criteria can be found. The finalists will be announced in September, with the presentation made to winners in October. The achievements of the finalists will be celebrated at the Scotland’s Towns Conference in Perth on November 27th.