Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards: Who’s won what?

A young starlet of the Granite City's hotel scene scoops gong for emerging talent.

Rosa Jackson, emerging talent winner at the Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards.
Rosa Jackson, emerging talent winner at the Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards. Image: Tricker PR/Newsline

A total of 14 tourism businesses and professionals shared the spoils at the 2023 Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards last night.

Each category was won by a first-time winner.

The annual awards are open to businesses of all sizes across the north-east of Scotland hospitality and tourism sectors .

This year’s competition featured several new categories. These honoured firms and people for action on climate change, inclusivity and community projects, while the new MacRobert Trust award recognised an emerging talent.

The awards were presented in front of an audience of more than 280 tourism professionals at The Chester Hotel in Aberdeen.

One to watch in north-east’s hospitality sector

Rosa Jackson, trainee duty manager at Leonardo Hotels in Aberdeen, was the inaugural MacRobert Trust emerging talent winner.

Having started her career as an apprentice, Ms Jackson has already achieved much in the industry. She was named employee of the year at her hotel last year and has undergone training on Leonardo’s Insights scheme for future managers.

Thistle Awards judges were impressed by her “composed, friendly, outgoing and professional demeanour” and hailed her as “a general manager of the future”.

Museum man’s ‘infectious’ enthusiasm and Doric audio tour guides are a winner all the way

Meanwhile, the accolade for tourism individual of the year went to Ian Pithie, head of visitor experience at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen.

Mr Pithie’s colleagues described his “positivity and enthusiasm” as “infectious”. Judges were impressed by his introduction of digital audio tour guides in nine international languages, including Doric, and described him as “a remarkable human being; modest and inspirational”.

Ian Pithie, head of visitor experience at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen.
Ian Pithie, head of visitor experience at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen. Image: Tricker PR

The first inclusive tourism award was scooped by Crathie Opportunity Holidays on Royal Deeside. Judges were impressed by the large-scale structure in place in terms of items like hoists and bathrooms giving accessibility for all, but also in the care taken at a micro level with items like bird feeders.

Cairngorm Bothies, near  Logie Coldstone on Royal Deeside, won the inaugural climate action award. Judges commended the enthusiasm of everyone in the business, whose building methods ensure it has no adverse impact on the environment.

Among other winners, Aberdeen’s annual festival of light, Spectra, scooped an outstanding event gong.

Aberdeen's Spectra festival of light event.
Thousands of people flocked to last year’s Spectra festival of light event. Image: The Corner Shop PR

Awards chairman Stephen Gow, general manager of The Chester Hotel, said: “We were delighted that our entry numbers for the 2023 awards were so high, and that we had so many ‘debut’ entrants.

“To see 12 out of 14 of our categories being won by first-time winners of the Aberdeen City and Shire and two categories being awarded to previous winners in different categories is very gratifying.”

Stephen Gow, chairman of Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards.
Stephen Gow, chairman of Aberdeen City and Shire Thistle Awards. Image: Tricker PR

Mr Gow added: “The awards could not run without the generosity of our sponsors, and the efforts made by all of our committee members and judges who give their time free to acknowledge the importance of this sector to the north-east.”

All of the winners, with the exception of Ms Jackson, who was in a north-east only category, now progress to the Scotland-wide fiinal of the Thistle Awards. It will take place in Glasgow on Friday December 1.

Cairngorm Bothies and Lodges.
Cairngorm Bothies and Lodges won the climate action award. Image: Cairngorm Bothies and Lodges.

Three north-east regional winners from 2022 – Lys Na Greyne B & B in Aboyne, Wild Discovery of Crathie and Douneside House near Tarland – went onto win national Thistle Awards last year.

Here are all the 2023 north-east winners:

Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish, on Queen's Terrace, Aberdeen.
Amuse by Kevin Dalgleish, on Queen’s Terrace, Aberdeen, won the gong for best eating experience. Im,age: Wullie Marr / DC Thomson

The full list of winners is also available at acsta.co.uk

Conversation