North West Awards for Planning Excellence

Celebrating Planning Excellence

Enter now

The RTPI North West Awards for Planning Excellence 2025 showcase and celebrate the best plans, projects and people. 

Our coveted awards recognise and highlight the positive contribution planning professionals make in the communities we serve around the world.

Here is how you enter:

• Select your best work completed between 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2024. For Young Planners, choose your best achievements over recent years.
• Choose the best category to showcase your work.
• Create your account on our entry platform. Don’t worry, you can edit your entry at any time.
• Familiarise yourself with the judging criteria, which can be found on the category pages. 
• Visit our 'How to win’ page for handy hints and tips on how to draft a strong entry.
• Complete and submit your entry along with some great images.

What's new for 2025?

• Check out the new criteria specifically tailored to each category so you can easily find the best category to enter your plan, project or the people in your team.
  
  
• We have updated our entry eligibility for the people categories, and we now have three consultancy category options:
  • If you have 1-4 RTPI members, then our Small Planning Consultancy of the Year is for you.
  • We have introduced a new Mid-Size Planning Consultancy of the Year category, and we are welcoming entries from consultancies with 5-9 members.
  • If there are 10 or more RTPI members, then why not enter our Planning Consultancy of the Year category.
• You can now submit extra documentation to support your entry, including:
  • Statistical data
  • Qualitative assessments and testimonials
  • Survey results
  • Visual documentation
  • Testimonials
• We’ve extended the timeframe for plan and project completion to three years and we are looking for entries completed between 1 January 2022 – 31 December 2024.

There are 15 planning related categories in total and our RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence are free to enter.  See the full list here.

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 (small schemes under 50 homes)
• Excellence in Planning for Communities (large schemes of 50 homes or more)
• Excellence in Digital Planning Practice*
• International Award for Planning Excellence*

People

• In-house Planning Team of the Year*
• Small Planning Consultancy of the Year
• Mid-Size Planning Consultancy of the Year- New for 2025
• Planning Consultancy of the Year*
• Planning Authority of the Year
• Young Planner of the Year

*Direct to national. The direct to national categories will go directly to the national judging process. See below for more details on the judging process.

Start your submission here on Evessio

John Knight Award

New for 2025, this is the John Knight Award and will be awarded to someone who has made an outstanding contribution to the profession.  The person can nominate themselves or be nominated by an employer, colleague or peer.  If you are nominating someone, then please make sure they are notified when you submit the entry.

We are proud to name this award after John Knight in recognition of his 50+ years of inspirational voluntary work.  John continues to promote the profession and will join our Regional Chair in judging the entries.

This award is not entered through our awards process but chosen locally by the regional chair and presented at the same time as the regional awards. Get in touch with Bev Watson, RTPI North West Regional Coordinator, to nominate.

The closing date for entries is 13 March 2025.

Why should you enter?

1. We champion the power of planning and are the only free awards dedicated solely to the planning discipline.
2. We help you to shine a spotlight on your organisation and your achievements. We make it easy for you to make the most of the promotional opportunities that being part of our awards provides.
3. Entering an award helps boost staff morale. The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence recognise how your plans, project and people contribute and make a real difference to communities.
4. We help you to demonstrate how far your business has come.

Click to see more on our North West region winners.

"We're absolutely thrilled to have won the prestigious RTPI Silver Jubilee Cup for Stockport Interchange. This project is at the heart of our ambitious plans to transform the town centre—bringing together better transport connections, improved accessibility, thoughtful place-making, and high-quality new homes, all while respecting Stockport’s heritage.

Planners have been part of this journey from the very start, working closely with TFGM to put people and place-making at the forefront. What was once a vision for a world-class transport hub and vibrant public space is now a reality we're incredibly proud of—and we know our residents are too. This is regeneration at its very best."

Emma Curle, Stockport Interchange 

Key dates 2025

• 16 January - RTPI North West Awards for Planning Excellence open for entries
• 13 March at 11.59pm - Entry deadline
• Site visits – 28-29 April - North West judges site visits and/or Young Planner interviews
• 15 May - North West shortlist announced
• 19 June - Regional winners announced at the Annual Dinner
• August/September - National awards judging
• Mid-October - National finalists announced
• End November - National ceremony

The judging process

The RTPI Awards for Planning Excellence has 15 national award categories. Entries in the North West are initially judged across 11 categories and awarded as:

• Best Plan
• Best Project
• Planning Authority of the Year
• Small Planning Consultancy of the Year
• Mid-Size Planning Consultancy of the Year
• Young Planner of the Year*

These winners become national finalists.

The shortlisted entries are put through for judging in the national awards and will be judged against the others in their selected categories for the national finalist list. The remaining four direct to national categories are also judged to complete the national finalist list of 15 categories. The winners and commendations are announced at the national ceremony in November . 

*All Young Planner of the Year winners will be entered into the national shortlist and will be judged by the national judges and the top five will become national finalists.

Details of the RTPI North West Awards for Planning Excellence celebration event will be published here soon.

Start your entry today

For more information

For tips on how to win visit our how to win web page.

If you have any questions, please visit the awards hub or contact Bev Watson, RTPI North West Regional Coordinator.