There is no shortage of activity across the Scottish Borders, but less of it has been entering formal competition.
A revised approach to the region’s Greener Gateway Community Awards reflects that shift. Entries have opened for the 2026 programme, with organisers moving away from settlement-based awards and towards a smaller number of thematic categories, following a decline in participation in recent years.
The awards, which recognise community-led environmental work, will this year focus on three areas: biodiversity, community food growing, and sustainability. A separate schools category invites primary and secondary pupils to present projects linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, including work on food production and local partnerships.
The change is structural rather than cosmetic. Previous versions of the programme included awards for towns and villages as a whole. The current format instead centres on specific types of activity, allowing groups to be recognised for particular projects rather than broader civic presentation.
Organisers describe the awards as a way of highlighting work that is often volunteer-led and carried out without formal recognition. That work ranges from habitat improvement and planting schemes to community growing initiatives and local sustainability efforts, many of which operate at a small scale but with sustained involvement over time.
The decision to remove settlement awards also shifts some activity elsewhere. Community groups previously entering those categories are being directed towards the national “Beautiful Scotland” competition run by Keep Scotland Beautiful, which continues to assess towns and villages on a wider basis.
Deadlines for the current programme reflect the split structure. Entries for the schools award close on 29 May, while community submissions remain open until 7 August, with judging expected to take place in mid-August.
Further details, including entry forms and guidance, are available through the Greener Gateway Community Awards pages:
https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/info/20055/parks_and_environment/1405/greener_gateway_community_awards
The awards do not create the work they recognise. What they offer instead is a record of it, and a means of drawing together activity that would otherwise remain dispersed across the region.
