Nominations open for the ‘Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards’
Tue, Sep 10 2019
Red Funnel Ferries will be shining a spotlight on the Isle of Wight with its new awards, the ‘Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards’. Celebrating all that is great about the Isle of Wight, the awards will recognise the diverse and wonderful places to go, stay and eat across the Island.
For the last seven years, Red Funnel has celebrated the very best of the Island with the ‘myIsleofWight Awards’ – a visitor-voted tourism awards program that saw over 20 winners recognised each year in a variety of unique categories. Red Funnel is revamping the awards for 2020, not only with a new name, the ‘Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards’, but also with a new set of categories that will reward more businesses than ever before.
The new simplified categories will bring the awards in line with nationally recognised awards, along with new award categories, such as ‘Best Place for Dogs’, ‘Greenest Business’ and ‘Best Newcomer’ for newly emerged tourism businesses. Three winners in each category will be recognised with Gold, Silver and Bronze positions.
The voting format of the awards is also changing. Businesses can now nominate themselves for up to three categories. The deadline for completing the short nomination form found on Red Funnel’s website is 1November. From 8 November, voting will be open to the public, allowing visitors, and now (as part of the new format) also locals and Islanders to have their say in who they think should take the top spot. The public vote will close in early 2020. The top three nominees in each category, as voted for by the public, will then be reviewed by a panel of expert judges to decide the Gold, Silver and Bronze ranking. The judging panel will be announced at a later date.
The overall winners will be revealed at a celebratory awards ceremony in March 2020.
Fran Collins, CEO of Red Funnel, said: “We’re proud to launch the newly revamped ‘Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards’ which will be bigger and better than ever before. The Isle of Wight is an amazing place with so much to celebrate and our new award categories will allow us to celebrate even more businesses and recognise their immense contribution to the Island.
“Our new format sees the introduction of a specific judging panel who will have the difficult task of deciding the ultimate winners. We’ll be revealing who our judges will be very soon, but we promise a unique and expert panel. We’re also looking forward to inviting the public to vote to decide the shortlist for each category, and we’re extremely pleased to open the voting up to local residents to vote; after all, who knows the Island better than an Islander?”
Nominations are now open at www.redfunnel.co.uk/awards and will close on 1 November 2019.
The ‘Red Funnel Isle of Wight Awards’ categories are:
Accommodation
- Best Place to go Glamping
- Best B&B or Guest House
- Best Hotel Experience
- Best Self-Catering Stay
- Best Campsite
- Best Holiday Park
- Food & Drink
Best Restaurant
- Best Café or tearoom
- Best Burger
- Best Fish & Chips
- Best Pub
- Best Local Produce
Things to Do
- Best Large Attraction/Experience (over 50,000 visits per year)
- Best Small Attraction/Experience (under 50,000 visits per year)
- Best Activity (Provider)
- Best Festival/Event
- Best Shop/Retail Experience
Others
- Best Place for Dogs
- Greenest Business Award
- Best Newcomer
-ends-
For further information regarding Red Funnel, please contact:
Lisa Norman or Kirsti Pawlowski at McKenna Townsend
T: 01425 472330
About Red Funnel
Red Funnel is the original Isle of Wight ferry company with roots tracing back to 1820. Based in the UK port of Southampton, Red Funnel carries 2.3m passengers and over 800,000 vehicles on its ferry route between the UK port of Southampton and East Cowes and 1.1m passengers between Southampton and West Cowes on its Red Jet Hi-Speed service. In addition to ferry travel, Red Funnel is the only cross-Solent operator to offer ferry inclusive bonded holiday accommodation, attraction tickets, festival and event tickets and activity packages. Sub-brands include ‘Red Jet’ (the Hi-Speed passenger only ferry service serving West Cowes) and two food & beverage brands, ‘Steam Coffee Company’ and ‘ReFuel’. The Company is a founder member of Visit Isle of Wight Ltd, the Island’s not for profit destination management organisation and Red Funnel sponsors or supports most of the Island’s premier events including the IW Festival, Cowes Week, Isle of Arts, The Red Funnel IW Literary Festival, IW Newport Jazz Festival, Isle Walk Festival, Ventnor Fringe Festival and Wolverton Manor Garden Show as well as a range of community and niche interest events. Red Funnel’s 2019 Charity of the Year is Mountbatten Hospice, Isle of Wight.
For more information visit: www.redfunnel.co.uk