To bring new life to the competition we created five different categories to highlight the diverse range of landscapes that Wales represents. To champion these categories we enlisted the support of five leading Welsh celebrities, including TV personality and weather presenter Siân Lloyd and Hollywood actor Matthew Rhys.
We involved our celebrities in photoshoots, presenting key announcements and social media support.
Co-operation with heritage bodies and conservation organisations was essential to ensure we were getting the message out there to the right people that National Trust Wales looks after some of the country’s most special places. We enlisted the support of a number of partner organisations including Visit Wales, Cadw and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Collaboration was instigated ahead of the launch with a partner meeting where aims and objectives were laid out and project roles assigned. We created template releases which were made available to all partners as well as suggested social media content. We also established category focus fortnights which ensured all types of places were championed and brought to the fore throughout the competition.
A key part of this year’s process was establishing a new voting mechanism to maximise entries throughout the duration of the competition. To do this we created an app to facilitate voting across a range of platforms as well as establishing voting booths at all National Trust properties and a number of partner organisation locations.