The Inspiring City Awards was born out of the desire to recognise businesses, education institutions and charities who, every day go beyond the call of duty to make Glasgow shine.

Everything you need to know about the Inspiring City Awards 2019

INSPIRING CITY

Everything you need to know about the Inspiring City Awards 2019

Organised by The Herald and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the awards bring to life the achievements and journey of the people and organisations who make a big difference to the lives of Glaswegians.

At the 2018 awards, the story of Flora Kerr, a team leader at Deaf Connections who has worked tirelessly for the rights, dignity and freedom of choice for Glasgow’s Deaf Community was profiled. Flora who retired last year, managed Deaf Care, a user-led community initiative to provide support for deaf people who require care, by using other deaf people as carers.

The service has won much praise in assisting vulnerable deaf people to have choice and autonomy in their lives. There are many other examples of Flora’s passionate care and personal sacrifice for Deaf Care that struck an emotional chord with both the judges and the audience, and Flora became the recipient of Inspiring City Award 2018 Carer of the Year.

What makes the Inspiring City Awards unique, is that the awards recognise across 13 categories, the everyday stories going on in the life in the city of Glasgow – including education, arts and culture, sports and industry and business that push a little further to make Glasgow the city it is today.

Can my Business Enter?
There are several business-specific categories available for your business to enter including, Business Leader, Young Business Leader, Innovation in Business and the coveted Corporate Social Responsibility Award (CSR), supported by Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University.

The Inspiring City Award for Best CSR in 2018 was won by Allied Vehicles for their work in the local community, particularly in addressing education and opportunities for young people in the area surrounding the business. In addition, they run a project designed to provide school pupils with an insight into a career in engineering and manufacturing and demonstrate routes to achieve their goals.

Professor John Lennon, Dean of Glasgow School for Business and Society at Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU), said: “As the University for the Common Good we promote socially responsible citizenship behaviours by individuals, businesses and organisations. We educate and encourage our students to make a positive contribution to society as critical participants and responsible leaders.We are proud to sponsor an award that recognises the positive economic and social impact of the world-class companies and organisations based in Glasgow.”

Another area where the Inspiring City Awards has been celebrating work being undertaken in the business community is The Developing the Young Workforce Glasgow, Industry and Young People Innovation Award. Last year, Tennent’s Training Academy triumphed, due to this partnership with UTD Sports to collaborate on an educational programme, Active*Eat, designed to incorporate healthy cooking and fitness into the everyday lives of young people in Schools.
Alison McRae, Senior Director at Glasgow Chamber of Commerce explains: “The Developing Young Workforce Glasgow, Industry and Young People Innovation Award, is an opportunity for businesses to profile the work they have been doing to support young people across the city.

Working with industry to create interesting and relevant opportunities for young people is at the heart of DYW Glasgow. We would like to see applications from businesses that believe they have gone the extra mile in developing the workforce for the future.”

The judges of the ICAs are looking specifically to understand the impact the business or business leader has made within their role, both internally and in the wider business community and by understanding the contribution be it through vision, effort, motivation and commitment that has contributed to the wider cultural and economic climate in Glasgow.

The awards also offer businesses a great chance to maximise the visibility of their brand, generating publicity and awareness for the work both the business and team are doing in the city.

The Legacy Award title was won last year by Glasgow Tigers Speedway, through the support of the Facenna Family, the Speedway has cemented itself as an iconic Glasgow institution, encouraging and fostering local community involvement as well as taking part in campaigns which profile Glasgow and it’s ambition. By winning an Inspiring City Award they were able to attract national attention to the work that they were doing and increase awareness of the facility.

Linda Canavan, sales and marketing director for CALA Homes (West) who are supporting the category in 2019, said: “As well as building homes, at CALA it’s really important for us to engage with local communities in and around Glasgow, leaving a lasting legacy for the people who live there, so the Legacy Award felt like the perfect fit for us to support.

There are people, businesses and communities working hard to create positive and lasting change for the city, and I am sure we will see plenty of worthy nominations submitted for the category.”

In 2019, the awards see the introduction of a new Category, The Alistair Malloy Award for Inclusive Volunteering supported by Volunteer Glasgow. This award aims to recognise a volunteering initiative that involves people from within the community and the impact it has on the city.
David Maxwell, the acting chief executive of Volunteer Glasgow said: “We are delighted to work with the Herald and the Chamber of Commerce to ensure people’s contributions to Glasgow are recognised. We’re convinced that the very best of the city’s inclusive volunteering programmes can inspire others in memory of our former colleague and friend, Ally.

If you know a local group or charity, public or third sector organisation that has successfully involved people from across the community in volunteering roles to support their work, please consider nominating them. It’s a chance to inspire others, showcase best practice and recognise people’s contributions to the city in memory of our friend and colleague Ally who passed away suddenly in 2014.”

Is your business inspiring your team and others? Are you running a project that reaches out into the community? Does your CSR strategy stand out from the crowd, offering something unique? If yes, then nominate today for an Inspiring City Award and it could be your story we are profiling!
The awards are currently open for nominations and people are being invited to submit an entry before the closing date of Friday 5 July 2019.
The event will be held on Thursday 5 September 2019 at the Crown Plaza Glasgow.

It is quick, easy and FREE to enter. Just visit https://newsquestscotlandevents.com/events/icas/ or contact Kirsty.loughlin@newsquest.co.uk