Hints and Tips

The Beautiful South Tourism Awards are open to all tourism and hospitality businesses located in South East England (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Surrey, the Isle of Wight, Sussex and Kent). Each entry costs £75 plus VAT but paid-up members of Tourism South East (as at the date of Awards entry submission) have the benefit of three free entries. In addition, the Unsung Hero award is free for members and non-members.

If applicable, an invoice will be emailed for your entry fee to the contact details given on your entry form, judging will only commence upon receipt of payment.

If your experience or business is located in another area, details of others schemes can be found on the VisitEngland Awards for Excellence website.

Please read the criteria at the start of the entry forms carefully to ensure that you are eligible to enter.

The judges are looking for evidence of excellence, innovation and quality improvements in the last 2 years. If you entered last year then make it really clear what improvements/additions have been made since your last entry.

• Start your entry early – you can save and come back to it in your own time but don’t miss the the deadline.
• Look at all the categories – you can enter as many as you are eligible for.
• Read the guidance notes at the start of each entry form and use “checklist” points (after each question) as prompts to answer the questions fully.
• Check out the FAQs.
• Join a workshop if you want any help or have questions.
• Share drafts with colleagues/customers to get more ideas.
• Make every word count – and use the full word count for each question – do not leave any blank or give one line answers as you will not be able to score points. Marks are awarded for each question and you want to score the maximum possible.
• State why you are excellent/the best in your field and back it up with evidence. What makes you different, unique?
• Answer factually and honestly. If you are mystery shopped, your claims will be checked.
• Why have you made improvements – was it due to visitor or staff feedback – and what has been the impact?
• Highlight sustainability and accessibility – VisitEngland provides helpful guidance here on sustainability and access.
• Include feedback to show the impact you’ve had on visitors.
• Presentation matters. Make your application easy to read, use simple English and avoid jargon.
• Spell check and proof read – and get someone else to read through your entry to check for anything you may have missed and for typos.  Your entry should reflect your excellence.
• Don’t be modest, this is your chance to shout loudly about why you are brilliant.
• Check that all the links you have given work as judges will be looking here too.

If you need help please contact us.

In all entries it is possible to include URL links to websites illustrating your responses or to cloud files containing relevant evidence.  You will not be penalised if you have not included supplementary evidence. Any written answers that are included within the supplementary evidence attempting to circumvent the question word counts will be disregarded.