https://kingsawards.blog.gov.uk/the-scottish-seabird-centre-the-queens-awards-for-enterprise-winner-2013/
The Scottish Seabird Centre - The Queen's Awards for Enterprise winner 2013
Transcript
[Sound of the sea]
[Caption: What did the Scottish Seabird Centre win a Queen's Award for this year?]
Tom Brook OBE (CEO, The Scottish Seabird Company):
The Scottish Seabird Centre won the award for Sustainability. It's the third time that we've won that award. That's really recognition of all of we do in terms of economic sustainability, social sustainability and also environmental sustainability.
[Caption: How many times have you won a Queen's Award for Enterprise?]
Well this is the third time that we've won it it, which is fantastic. The last time we won it the Queen actually came to the Seabird Centre. It was the first royal visit here to North Berwick in over 100 years. It was fantastic... a real community celebration.
[Caption: And in which category have you won each time?]
It's been Sustainability. It's the category we've won on each 3 occasions. But to win it is just fantastic recognition for all staff, the volunteers, all our supporters, all our members... And you know, they've just shared in the celebration of us winning the the Queen's Award 3 times. It's fantastic.
[Caption: How did you first hear about The Queen's Awards for Enterprise?]
It was by word of mouth. I might have seen something on a website somewhere and thought; well that would be fantastic if the Scottish Seabird Centre could apply for it - maybe even win it. We went for it, and we've won it 3 times. It's wonderful.
[Caption: What made you want to take that first step and fill in an entry form?]
The reason we wanted to apply for the Queen's Award in the first place was because we thought were doing a good job here in terms of sustainability. We wanted to highlight to other people what we're doing. And also really for our local community and all our supporters, staff and volunteers - we wanted them to share in the success of winning something as prestigious as a Queen's Award.
[Caption: Did you find our blog, the guidance notes, or The Queen's Awards Office helpful when entering?]
Everybody we talked to on the Queen's Awards team were extremely helpful... any questions we had, no problem at all.. so we found them extremely helpful.
[Caption: How have things been The Scottish Seabird Centre since winning its 3 Queen's Awards for Sustainable Development?]
In terms of the Seabird Centre, we go from strength to strength. It's just a great accolade to have such a prestigious award associated with the success of the Seabird Centre. We use it in all our literature. We've had fantastic events to celebrate us winning the awards on each occasion. So it's really helped us move forward, grow and develop, and build on the success that we've had over the years.
[Caption: How have you used your Awards to generate interest or publicity for your company?]
Each time we've won the award we've had a major celebration involving the local community... involving our staff and volunteers. The biggest occasion and biggest event for us was when the Queen arrived in North Berwick at the Seabird Centre to celebrate as winning on the second occasion.
[Caption: And have you had much chance to use the Queen's Awards emblem?]
Yes. We use the Queen's Award logo on all of our literature... it's on our website.
And our awards are proudly displayed as in the Seabird Centre itself. So a quarter of a million people see it as they come through the doors every year.
[Caption: What advice would you give to a company thinking of entering The Queen's Awards for the very first time?]
I think if you're thinking of entering, my advice would be go for it. It's a fantastic thing to do. Even the process of actually going for it is worthwhile. Just go for it. It's such a prestigious award. So I would recommend anybody to look at it and apply.
You may also be interested in:
- Flower of Scotland
- The Queen's Awards on Tour: Dear Diary (Part 1)