Enter a national category #ThistleAwards

Recognise innovation, excellence and success

The prestigious Scottish Thistle Awards recognise and honour the very best individuals, businesses, partnerships, and events in the industry for their innovation, excellence and success.

With the 2022/23 regional categories closed and judging underway, the national categories are open for nominations and entry.

Nominations close on the 19 August and entry closes on the 2 September 2022.

You can find out more and enter at the Scottish Thistle Awards website.

Do you champion responsible tourism?

Responsible tourism is at the heart of the refreshed Scottish Thistle Awards, supporting the aim for Scotland to be recognised globally as a leader in this field.

This year, entrants must evidence how they have embraced best practice covering the four key areas of a low carbon economy, inclusivity, thriving communities and Scotland’s natural and cultural heritage.

This award celebrates businesses and events, which have made demonstrable progress embedding responsible tourism values into their core activity, across the four key areas.

It's understandable that many businesses and events will be in the early stages of implementing responsible tourism practices. So, while your business or event may be excellent at sustainability, you may not have so much to say about inclusive tourism or community engagement at this stage. The Scottish Thistles Awards still want you to apply!

Visit the Scottish Thistle Award website to apply for this category.

Do you offer a luxury experience?

This award celebrates those businesses bringing luxury to the Scottish visitor experience. Luxury experiences are those bespoke offerings which showcase the best of Scotland and bring the wow-factor to every step of the customer journey.

This award recognises unique tour offerings or experience packages, with a focus on exclusivity and attention to detail.

The Best Luxury Experience Award will be promoted within The Times, as part of this year's media partnership with News Scotland.

News Scotland, publisher of The Times and Sunday Times Scotland and The Scottish Sun, has partnered with us for the first time this year to promote the Scottish Thistle Awards.

Visit the Scottish Thistle Award website to apply for this category.

Did you deliver an outstanding sporting event?

Despite being one of the most strongly impacted sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, Scotland’s events and festivals sector has shown impressive resilience, innovation and has continued to deliver excellent experiences in line with ever-changing restrictions. 

From large scale international events to national and local events, Scotland has a rich annual programme of sporting events. These events make an important contribution to our thriving communities and cities as well as the health and wellbeing of our people, supporting the message that Scotland is the Perfect Stage for events.

This category aims to celebrate and recognise outstanding sporting events delivered during the pandemic. If your event(s) bring attendees in from outside of the immediate area, from across Scotland or internationally, then you should consider your event part of Scotland’s tourism and events offering and eligible to apply. 

Entries are sought from events that can demonstrate exceptional resilience, innovation and the delivery of excellent live, online or hybrid experiences, in spite of the challenges encountered over the past two years. 

Visit the Scottish Thistle Award website to apply for this category.

Did you organise / sponsor a transformational business event?

After two years of the pandemic where few face-to-face business events made it to fruition, this category again celebrates business events as catalysts for economic and social transformation.

Aligned to our Journey to Change, the Scottish Government’s National Performance Framework and the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) business events can range from corporate conferences or incentive programmes to annual global congresses with thousands of international delegates.

Visit the Scottish Thistle Award website to apply for this category.

Deadlines

• You can nominate in the national categories until 19 August 2022.
• All entries must be completed by 2 September 2022 to be considered by our judging panels.
• Visit the Scottish Thistles website for more information