The annual Awards for Planning Excellence are now open for entries. The awards highlight exceptional examples of how planning and planners have a positive impact on our quality of life in creating exceptional places and protecting our environment. In recognising and rewarding excellence the RTPI aims to inspire others to achieve the same high standards.

Entries should be submitted through the online entry platform. Entry is free and the closing date is 11.59pm on 11 March.

Judging

Twelve categories will be judged locally and the judging panel will undertake site visits to shortlisted entries or invite entrants to present their schemes in a virtual meeting. The South East regional awards will be given to:

  • Best Project
  • Best Plan
  • Small Planning Consultancy of the Year
  • Planning Authority of the Year
  • Head Planner of the Year
  • Young Planner of the Year
  • Chair’s Award : The Chair’s Award is a discretional Award chosen by the Regional Chair and agreed with the Regional Judges. This year’s Chair’s Award will focus on ‘Greener’ Planning; recognising the schemes, development plans, and planning professionals (individuals or teams) for planning for a more sustainable future. This could include contributions to net zero, biodiversity, climate change sustainability goals. The Award may be given to a person, team, department, authority or planning practice which has stood out this year

Submissions

Submissions must be in the South East of England which covers Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and West Sussex. Please visit the awards hub for more details, including the full list of categories, a timeline, how to enter and FAQs . Don’t forget to view tips on how to write a winning entry.

Categories

There are 15 streamlined categories that fall under three key themes: Plans, Projects and People and the top scoring entries across all 15 categories will be finalists for the national award competition where we will reward and celebrate at a ceremony in central London later in the year.

Plans

  • Excellence in Plan Making Practice

Projects

  • Excellence in Planning for a Successful Economy
  • Excellence in Planning for Health and Wellbeing
  • Excellence in Planning for Heritage and Culture
  • Excellence in Planning for the Natural Environment
  • Excellence in Planning for Communities (large schemes of 50 or more)
  • Excellence in Planning for Communities (small schemes of 50 or less)
  • Excellence in Tech within Planning Practice
  • International Award for Planning Excellence

People

  • Head Planner of the Year (Local Planning Authority)
  • Planning Authority of the Year
  • Small Planning Consultancy of the Year
  • Young Planner of the Year
  • In-house Planning Team of the Year
  • Planning Consultancy of the Year

To find out more about how to enter the Awards, please visit www.rtpi.org.uk/excellence.