My Place Awards: Community Champions
Entries to the 2024 competition are now closed, and will reopen for next year’s competition in the autumn.
The “Community Champions” category of the My Place Awards celebrates the people behind community-led built environment projects. The My Place Community Champion Awards are kindly sponsored by Urban Union.
The award celebrates individuals in communities across Scotland who have made an exceptional contribution to their local area through achieving positive change in the built environment, public spaces or access to these by communities.
Award winners are celebrated at an award ceremony attended by major stakeholders in the built environment and heritage sectors, as well as representatives from local and national government.
Judging criteria
The winning nominee(s) will score highly in all of the following ways:
- The individual has shown exceptional commitment to improving their local places through built environment or placemaking projects.
- The work, project or organisation led by the individual has fulfilled needs of the community – for example, by providing educational resources, cultural experiences, health and wellbeing support, inclusive design, etc.
- The work, project or organisation led by the individual has had a demonstrable positive impact on the community – for example, increased numbers of people involved in or using the project space, user satisfaction surveys, social media support.
How to enter
Nominations for the My Place Community Champions Award can be made using our Community Champions entry form.
The entry form has three sections:
- Basic information: The first group of questions asks for basic information like the name of the person, local authority area, nominee contact details, name of nominating body, contact details for the nominating body, etc.
- Summary description: This section of the entry should outline the kind of work that the individual has done in the community.
- Supporting statement: This section should clearly explain why the individual should win a My Place Community Champion Award. Please directly refer to the judging criteria listed at the top of these guidelines. Supporting information such as relevant testimonials and statistics are also appropriate to include in this section.
To ensure an equitable submission and judging process, we will provide guidance and assistance on submissions. Please email Erin.Burke@scottishcivictrust.org.uk if you have any questions.
Judging panel and process
The judging panel will be appointed and managed by the Scottish Civic Trust and will include Scottish Civic Trust representatives. Panel members will have knowledge of and interest in Scotland’s buildings, places and spaces. The panel chairperson will be nominated by the Scottish Civic Trust.
After an initial review of submissions, shortlisted individuals will be invited to an interview to discuss their work with the judging panel.
Judges will then meet to discuss the interviews and make awards decisions, which will be final. At the joint discretion of the Scottish Civic Trust and the judging panel, there may be a number of commended entries. In the event of the judges being unable to determine a single winner, it will be left to their discretion to offer a joint award. There will be a ceremony held to celebrate the award winners.
Use of Information
Data supplied by submissions, including images, plans, drawings and narrative text submitted in support of the My Place Awards will only be used for assessing, awarding and promoting the My Place Awards. Personal contact information will not be disclosed to other parties.
Data will be held by the Scottish Civic Trust in perpetuity to maintain a record of entries.