The judges are coming!
30 July 2021
Villages, towns and cities across Scotland aim to shine for community green award
48 communities from across Scotland entered Beautiful Scotland in 2021 to celebrate over 50 years of community environmental improvement (find out more about each on our NEW online map!)
Administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful, a member of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Bloom Federation, Beautiful Scotland recognises the efforts of local authorities, communities and businesses which work tirelessly to improve their local cities, towns and villages. The entrants have together nurtured an astonishing number of plants, organised local environmental awareness campaigns and encouraged volunteer participation across their community – all to improve the places they live and work in.
Now the planters are blooming, the streets are clean and everyone is ready to showcase their hard work to the Beautiful Scotland judges.
Over a four-week period, starting on Monday 2 August, pairs of highly experienced volunteer judges will visit 28 communities who have entered our ‘judged category’, as part of a tour which takes in small villages, large towns and our major cities.
During the judging tour, three themes are examined - horticultural achievement, community participation and environmental responsibility - to discover which communities have been most successful in improving the attractiveness, cleanliness and sustainability of the places they care for.
Communities will be presented with medal certificates at a virtual celebration event on Thursday 23 September. A number of discretionary awards will also be presented for outstanding performance in areas such as biodiversity, tourism, and community involvement.
Some of the winners from Beautiful Scotland 2021 will go on to represent Scotland in the UK-wide RHS Britain in Bloom Finals in 2022.
Juliette Camburn, from Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “Communities, local authorities and businesses that enter Beautiful Scotland have already made a massive contribution to ensuring that our country is a nicer place to live, visit and work.
“We are facing a climate and nature emergency, but our research has shown that in the last year over 40% of people have spent more time using outside space in their neighbourhoods, reconnecting with the environment and their communities.
“The entrants pull people together to build stronger communities and continue to make a massive difference to Scotland’s environment while having fun at the same time. I’d like to wish all the entrants the best of luck and look forward to celebrating all their achievements with them at the 2021 award ceremony in September.”
These activities would not happen without the many hundreds of people committing thousands of hours to looking after their communities. The effort of all entrants is supporting Keep Scotland Beautiful to tackle climate change and improve the places where we live and work.
