Call for Nominations: 2022 Nature of Scotland Awards (UK)

Deadline: 30-May-22

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is seeking nominations for the 2022 Nature of Scotland Awards.

They have 10 awards to choose from, you can enter more than one category as long as you tailor your entry to the specific award details. They are especially pleased to launch the new Citizen Science Award and the refreshed Business for Nature category.

Categories

• Business for Nature Award: Businesses have a critical role to play in fighting nature and climate emergencies. They want to recognize those who can demonstrate a whole business approach to helping nature in Scotland. They welcome applicants from any business, big or small, from any sector.
• Citizen Science Award: Volunteers can make a crucial contribution to the understanding of the natural world. And the more people understand their impact, the more they will feel inspired to spend their weekends and evenings as scientists’ eyes and ears in nature. You don’t need a degree in science or years of training to increase the world’s knowledge about wildlife – sometimes you just need a little time, and a passion for nature.
• Coasts and Waters Award: Scotland’s seas, lochs, and rivers are home to some of the most iconic animals; leaping salmon and playful otters, graceful seabirds, and inquisitive seals. If you’re involved with research, partnerships, or schemes that help protect nature in Scottish waters, apply now so your project can get the recognition it deserves.
• Community Initiative Award: People take pleasure and pride in the nature they see every day. Greenspaces are used, protected, and cherished by the people local to them, more than anyone else. This award will go to an outstanding community-based initiative that clearly demonstrates what they have done for the benefit of nature. The project should be developed and led by the people it serves, acting as an inspiration to others and offering real value to the whole community.
• Forest and Woodland Award: Trees, woodlands, and forests have a vital role to play in addressing the nature and climate emergency and can provide a range of benefits. They store carbon, are homes to wildlife, provide timber, inspire art, and are great places for recreation. This award celebrates the sustainable forestry and woodland champions and is open to applications from individuals, businesses, communities, or organisations who are creating and/or managing woodlands.
• Health and Wellbeing Award: Nature is so important for the wellbeing. This award celebrates initiatives that encourage people to engage with nature for their mental and/or physical health and promote a reciprocal relationship with nature. They welcome entries from individuals, communities, or organisations who work to demonstrate the positive impact of nature on human health.
• Innovation Award: Have you pioneered a first-of-its-kind project focused on saving nature? Did you take a new approach to conservation? Has your initiative or partnership broken new ground in the fight to protect habitats? Nature is in crisis – 1 in 9 species in Scotland are at risk of extinction, they are running out of time to save it. Now is the era for trailblazers to step up and channel their skills.
• Nature and Climate Action Award: Nature is crucial in the fight against climate change: it has never been more important to keep carbon locked in the peatlands, forests, and saltmarshes. And nature can help prepare them for extreme weather driven by climate change. If they let them, the coastlands and peatlands can help protect them from rising sea levels and flooding, green walls can insulate the buildings and urban green spaces can cool the cities. These are examples of “nature-based solutions”.
• RSPB Species Champion Award: Help them celebrate the exceptional achievements that individuals are making for Scottish species and habitats. One person’s passion for the natural world can lead to significant positive outcomes. You can apply for your own work or nominate another person’s successes.
• Youth and Education Award: This award honors schools and youth groups which make a difference for Scotland’s wildlife and habitats. They want to see evidence of what you’ve done in nature, through nature, about nature, and for nature.

Eligibility Criteria

• They are open for entries from both the people and project who have actually carried out the work outlined in the application and also from people who are nominating others.
• The awards are open to businesses, public sector organisations, research institutions, community groups, and individuals who have been active in nature conservation across Scotland since March 2019.

For more information, visit https://www.rspb.org.uk/about-the-rspb/at-home-and-abroad/scotland/nature-of-scotland-awards/award-categories/