A new awards for a new era

A Virtual Festival of Excellence

Reflecting the monumental changes in the local retailing landscape over the last year, the SLR Awards has been fully reformulated to deliver an exciting new awards for a new era full of opportunity.

The local retailing landscape has changed almost beyond recognition over the last year – and it looks likely that when we do finally emerge fully from Covid, the world will be a very changed place.

However, our commitment and resolve to keep shining a light on the outstanding achievements of the sector remains firmly in place.

The SLR Awards 2021 – our second Virtual Festival of Excellence – will be our homage to an exceptional industry that has shone brighter than any other in the last year.

To reflect the changed nature of local retail over the last year, we have refreshed our list of awards categories and added several new ones.

We are delighted to launch the 2021 SLR Awards with a new and improved Call For Entries Brochure and entry process making it easier than ever to enter and ensure that you have the opportunity to have your achievements over the last year recognised.

SLR Publisher Antony Begley commented: “2020 was a year like no other and, while the world threatened to fall apart, local retailers were the heroes in the front-line ensuring that it didn’t. Selflessly and resolutely serving communities across Scotland, local retailers kept villages, towns and cities supplied with all that they needed when many other sectors simply couldn’t.

“That effort, commitment and passion deserves special recognition – and that’s exactly what we intend to do at the new and refreshed SLR Awards 2021.

“With very little clarity available in terms of what the future holds for us, we have committed from day one to deliver this year’s SLR Awards in a virtual format once more. It’s not how we would ideally want to do the awards as nothing beats getting together with retailers, suppliers and wholesalers and sharing a beer and a chat – but the safety and wellbeing of our colleagues in this industry must remain our number one concern.

“With that in mind, we intend to produce another Virtual Festival of Excellence and build on our learning from last year. Everyone has had to learn new ways of working and adopt new strategies for coping with an enormously changed world, and we at SLR are no different. Remaining agile and being able to adapt to changing circumstances has been key for us just as much as it has been for you.

“But our ultimate goal remains exactly the same: to recognise and reward the local retailing industry in Scotland. And there’s a lot to celebrate after the year that was 2020. A heroic effort deserves heroic recognition and this year’s awards will see us recognise and reward our winners, but it will also be a celebration of this entire, unbelievable sector.”

Entries open now!