Be a part of our Nature of Scotland Awards

RSPB Scotland's Joanne Simpson shares why she loves the Nature of Scotland Awards and gives her top tips for writing a great application.

Be a part of our Nature of Scotland Awards

People do great things for nature – whether this protecting it, restoring it or inspiring others to do good things for it. We are lucky to be part of an amazing team of people fighting for nature in Scotland and we celebrate this as part of our Nature of Scotland Awards.

For the last 8 years, the awards have recognised incredible things happening in Scotland for nature and wildlife. Not only is it motivating to hear about the great things going on across the country and to meet like-minded people in the conservation community, it’s also a great chance to celebrate your achievements.

One of my highlights of last year was working on the awards and watching them from start to finish. The awards ceremony had such an inspiring atmosphere and, in a world where we are subjected to  much discouraging news regarding the state of our nature, it was heart-warming to meet all  the finalists and to witness  the great  things happening right on our doorstep. As cheesy as it sounds, it really felt like everyone was a winner!

The Nature of Scotland Awards 2020 have now launched and we’re already looking forward to hearing about the amazing things happening across Scotland in support of nature and wildlife. We have nine different categories, including two new awards – the Forest and Woodland Award and the Nature and Climate Action Award.

If you haven’t thought about entering the awards before, they’re completely free to enter and all you need to do is complete and submit an application form by Monday 1 June. To help you, here are five  top tips:

1. Give your project a short and snappy title – this helps make it memorable and stand out in a crowd! Take a look at the past winners for ideas.
2. Read the questions carefully – the application questions are designed to help you emphasise the important information. Don’t use unnecessary detail, but equally make sure you include the key information
3. Be clear and concise – the judges have lots of applications to read through! If you communicate your work and successes clearly, without needed pages and pages of information, you will stand out from the rest.
   
   
   
   
4. Share your photos and videos – Bring your application to life and help our judges connect with your work so they can see more of the amazing work you have done.
5. Get feedback – ask a friend, family member or colleague to read over your application to make sure you haven’t missed any key details that will take the application to the next level.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s our Nature of Scotland Awards 2019 host Gordon Buchanan telling you a bit more:

Whether you’re a school group or a business, a community group or a scientist, young or old, we’d love to hear about the positive work you’re doing to help nature and wildlife in Scotland.

If you have any questions at all, please just ask by emailing awards@rspb.org.uk. Read more and download an application form HERE. Good luck!