The deadline for submissions to the Greener Gateway Community Awards is Friday 5 August.

The awards aim to celebrate the communities and community-led projects that take pride in their local environment and work so hard towards making the region more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

It also celebrates the volunteers who invest a huge amount of time, effort and talent into caring for the towns and villages of the region, keeping them looking vibrant and full of life.

The new awards programme has been adapted from the Council’s extremely successful ‘Floral Gateway Competition’ which ran for nearly 20 years to better align with SBC’s climate change ambitions, including achieving net zero by 2030, which was set out in the Climate Change Route Map published last year.

Alongside the existing Border Biodiversity Award, two new award categories have been introduced into the programme; the Cultivating Communities Award for community food growing and the Sustainability Award, providing special recognition for individual projects or initiatives.

The changes to the Awards marks a move away from concentrating solely on floral displays of annual bedding and instead promoting a more sustainable, holistic view of horticulture, civic pride and community participation in our communities.

Gold, silver and bronze certificates will be awarded across all categories and will replace the previous 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards, with a separate ‘Best in Category’ award for each.

This year no in-person judging will take place, with community groups instead required to submit their own evidence such as imagery and video to support their application.

Full details of the awards, the individual categories, entry guidelines and details on how to submit your entry are available to view on the SBC website.

Judging of the awards will take place during August and September.