New Heritage Crafts / QEST Sustainability Award

Heritage Crafts and the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust - QEST have teamed up to create a new Sustainability Award, with a £2,000 prize, open to any craftsperson or micro-business, working with traditional craft skills or materials, who has improved their environmental sustainability within the last 12 months.

Crafts are often thought to provide an environmentally-friendly alternative to mass-production. This can be true, with items produced using locally-sourced materials and hand-production methods that may have less impact on the environment. However, there are still areas that can be improved, such as with energy-intensive crafts that require kilns or furnaces, or those that use imported or rare materials.

This award will recognise a craftsperson or micro-business working with traditional craft skills or materials who has taken clear and effective steps to improve their environmental sustainability as well as the long-term viability of their business. Judges will include renowned environmental craft advocate Katie Treggiden, author of Wasted: When Trash Becomes Treasure (Ludion, 2020) and podcast Circular with Katie Treggiden.

Anyone (including the craftsperson or business themselves), can nominate a craftsperson or microbusiness working with traditional craft skills or materials, for the Heritage Crafts/QEST Sustainability Award. The winner will be invited to attend the high-profile Winners’ Reception at the Vicar’s Hall, Windsor Castle, on 15 November 2023, where the result will be announced and £2,000 prize awarded.

Applications are now open and close on Friday 1 September 2023 at 5pm. For details on how to apply, visit

heritagecrafts.org.uk/heritage-crafts-qest-award