Tuesday 27 April 2021

The Woodlands Awards were first launched in 2017, so 2021 marks their fifth consecutive year. Soon we will be able to use the term “well-established”!

The central aim of the Woodlands Awards remains exactly as it was at the start: to give recognition to all the good work that is being done – professionally or for pleasure – in the woodland sector.

The Awards categories have changed a little over the years, with new categories introduced to keep the list fresh, as well as for amusement and fun. This year we have introduced two new categories: Best Makers in Wood, and Best Woodland Toilets (yes – the subject of much debate and considerable ingenuity!)

Last year there were three new categories: Best Woodland Instagrams, Best Woodland Huts, and Best Woodland Tree-Planting Projects. All proved popular, especially Best Woodland Instagrams: the eight winners in that category eloquently demonstrated the enthusiasm, expertise and artistry that are invested in the woodland world.

Many of the other categories have stayed the course, featuring every year since the beginning. These include Best Woodland Photography, Best Woodland Contractors, Best Forest Schools, Best Community Woods, Best Woodland Books of the Year, and Best Regional and National Woodland Organisations.

There are 14 categories in all for 2021 (see the list below). Full details about the 2021 Woodlands Awards can be found here:

www.woodlands.co.uk/woodlands-awards

The deadline for entries is 31 July 2021.

It has always been our intention to make the Awards as easy to enter, and as inclusive, as possible. For many of the Awards, individuals can enter themselves; others depend on nominations, recommendations and reviews.

Every category can have multiple winners. All winning entries are considered to be of equally high merit (i.e. they are not “podiumed” into First, Second, Third etc).

There were 40 winners altogether last year. A full list of these winners, and a brief description about how and why they won, can be found here:

www.woodlands.co.uk/woodlands-awards/woodlands-awards-2020-winners

The prizes vary according to the category: all winners receive a certificate, and many winners also receive a selected woodland book (one of the winning Woodland Books of the Year) and a woodland hand tool and/or piece of equipment (in 2020 this included a Classic Stanley Bottle (vacuum flask) and Spear & Jackson Ratchet Secateurs and sharpener). And all winners receive public recognition for their endeavours.

Angus Hanton, CEO of Woodlands.co.uk (sponsors of the Woodlands Awards), says: “We are delighted with the response to the Woodlands Awards since their launch in 2017. They have received a consistently high level of interest – and high quality of entries– from the outset. Our intention with the Awards has always been to bring recognition to all the hard work that goes into the effective management of small woodlands, and the pleasure that derives from that. We look forward to plenty of entries again this year.”

Some winners’ responses from the 2020 Awards:

“Yayyyyy . So, pleased. Many thanks to you and the judges…”

“Happy New Year! And what a happy start to the year – your parcel has arrived. Thank you so much for the wonderful selection of gifts, including a couple of things that were on my wish list, which I didn't get for Christmas, and thought I would have to save up to buy myself.”

“Thank you and your team for our lovely prizes, it was just like Christmas day all over again, we will certainly make use of them all.”

“Your very generous prizes arrived this morning. I am delighted... as are my grandchildren.”

“Wow what an amazing honour. Thank you so much for the recognition. I am delighted… Prizes received with thanks. I really appreciate it and am feeling quite pleased with myself.”

“I’ve now received a box of prizes and a certificate. Sometimes these kinds of things are token gestures, but in this case they are generous and genuinely useful.”

“Just wanted to send you a huge thanks for the prizes received this morning. What a fantastic surprise, I really can’t thank you enough for the kind thought that went into this.”

Full list of Woodlands Awards categories for 2021

Awards for individuals

Small Woodland Websites

Woodland Photography

Woodland Instagrams

Makers in Wood

Woodland Tool Recommendations

Woodland Huts

Woodland Toilets

Awards for enterprises

Woodland Contractors

Woodland Tree-Planting Projects

Forest Schools

Woodland Courses

Community Woods

Woodland Books of the Year

Regional and National Woodland Organisations

Notes to Editors:

Woodlands.co.uk is a family business set up thirty-five years ago. Since then, they have created and sold over 2,000 small woods all over the UK.

Full details about the 2021 Woodlands Awards can be found here:

www.woodlands.co.uk/woodlands-awards

For details of past winners, 2017–2020, go to the Woodlands.co.uk home page, click on the “Resources” tab, and the select “Awards”:

www.woodlands.co.uk

For further information about the Woodlands Awards, please email [email protected].