VisitEngland Awards for Excellence: the judging process
VisitBritain/Michael Cummins
VisitEngland Awards for Excellence: the judging process
Winners of core categories at local awards officially aligned with the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence are automatically put forward to the national competition. The national shortlist is then evaluated by the national judging panels, made up of experts in the tourism industry.
Meet the judges for 2023/24 below.
How your entry will be judged
No matter where you are based in the country, your local and national application will be judged against nationally-set standards, with the same scoring criteria and judging guidance for all core categories.
For the local awards, your application will be scored and ranked against other applicants in your category to determine a shortlist. All applicants will receive feedback on how to improve their application, even if they are not shortlisted.
Further rounds of judging, including site visits with further feedback, also form part of the decision process at local competition level. The overall winners of local core categories are then put forward for national judging. For local competitions covering larger areas, additional winners may also be eligible to progress.
National judging panels
VisitEngland appoints industry experts across several judging panels to determine the Gold, Silver and Bronze national winners for each category.
The national judging panelists are selected each year and usually include journalists/ media experts, senior trade/ industry body representatives, sponsors, specialist consultants, VisitEngland Advisory Board Members and VisitEngland/VisitBritain Directors/ subject experts.
If you are interested in being considered as a national judge, please contact the Awards Team before the end of October. The panel meetings are usually held in March.
Please note that panel members are subject to change prior to panel meetings.
The following experts were on the national judging panels for the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence 2024/25.
Serviced accommodation
Sophie Braybrooke
Chief Executive, Stay in a Pub
Simon Mahon
Chief Operations Officer, Watergate Bay Hotel
Lyndsey Turner-Swift
Deputy Director, VisitEngland
David Weston
Chairman, Bed and Breakfast Association
Nigel Wilkinson
Advisory Board Member, VisitEngland
Non-serviced accommodation
Jane Anderson
Travel Editor, Prima Magazine
Alistair Handyside
Executive Chair Professional Association of Self-Caterers UK Ltd (PASC UK Ltd)
Liz Herridge
Transformation Director, VisitBritain
Allan Lambert
Advisory Board Member, VisitEngland
Simon McGrath
Director of Communications and Stakeholder Engagement, National Caravan Council (NCC)
Sadie Rowell
Head of Sales, VisitEngland Assessment Services
Attractions and experiences
Kelly Ballard
Marketing Consultant, Visitor Elves
Paul Kelly
Chief Executive, British Association of Leisure Parks Piers and Attractions (BALPPA)
Gordon Morrison
Chief Executive,The Association for Cultural Enterprises
Fiona Pollard
Advisory Board Member, VisitEngland
Rachel Read
Co-Founder and Director, Blooloop
Janet Uttley
Head of Industry Development, VisitEngland
Food and drink
Robin Johnson
Global Marketing Director, VisitBritain
Mardi Roberts
Director of Communications, Ridgeview Wine Estate
Accessibility
Ross Calladine
Accessibility and Inclusion Lead, VisitEngland; Disability and Access Ambassador for Tourism, UK Government
Debra Lang
Director of HR and Professional Services, VisitBritain/VisitEngland
Anna Nelson
Chief Executive, AccessAble
Sustainability
Sarah Duncan
Co-Founder and Director, Sleeping Lion
Kat Emmett
Client Carbon Manager, Zero Carbon Company
Sarah Fowler
Advisory Board Member, VisitEngland
Julian Gray
Chair, National Trails UK and Director, South West Coast Path
Business events
Martin Fullard
Director, Identity
Serena Jacobs
Director of Finance, VisitBritain
Jenny Jensen
Owner, Jenny Jensen Ltd
Holly Patrick
Social Editor & Senior Journalist at NorthStar Media
Paul Szomoru
Regional Development Lead (North East & Yorkshire), VisitEngland
International Tourism
Osnat Borreda
Senior Training & Education Manager, VisitEngland
Joss Croft
Chief Executive, UKinbound
Gavin Landry
International Director, VisitBritain
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