Our history
The Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards – run by independent charity, Scotland’s Finest Woods – celebrate the contribution that woodlands can make to the people of Scotland and to its environment and economic prosperity.
The underlying principle of the Awards is that people from across Scotland work hard to support their local communities and the environment, and the Awards provide a way to recognise and reward their achievements and so identify exemplars for others to follow.
A partnership to run an annual awards programme was first established in 1985. Since 2005 the awards programme has been managed by a not-for-profit company which introduced new awards for community woodlands and schools in 2006, for new native woods in 2011, new commercial woods in 2012, for farm woodlands in 2018 and in 2021 the climate change champion and early years awards were added. The company is a registered charity.
A special Silver Jubilee Competition held in 2010 to mark the 25th anniversary of the awards attracted a record number of entrants. 2020 marked the 35th year of Scotland’s Finest Woods Awards.