Hats off to your heroes

Don’t delay in honouring your superstar staff members and get your entries in now for SLR’s Above and Beyond Awards 2025.

There are some staff who you simply couldn’t do without. The person who always steps in at short notice when you’re up to your eyeballs with a late delivery, or the colleague who’s quick to act in the case of an emergency.

With the Budget changes wreaking havoc on the cost of running a business, awarding pay rises and bonuses is not an option for many employers in the convenience sector. But with the many challenges facing our channel, everyone is most definitely in need of a lift and SLR’s Above & Beyond Awards offer exactly that.

This event presents a marvellous opportunity to reward your best assets – those team members who truly deserve celebrating – and what’s more it’s free to enter. So fill in an entry form without delay, telling us all about your unsung heroes and what makes them so special. But be quick – the entry deadline is just a few short weeks away on January 15 and you don’t want your star player missing out!

Perhaps it’s the supervisor who fills nervous trainees with confidence and goes the extra mile to keep everyone smiling. Or the sales assistant who can create showstopping displays that bring in the crowds and bolster basket spend. Whoever that special someone is in your store – or maybe you’re lucky enough to have a whole team of them – we want to know! This is your chance to reward your staff for their sterling performance. Simply knowing that you think they are good enough to be put forward for an award is a super way to boost morale, and if your staff are lucky enough to be shortlisted, then boy, are you in for a treat! Working closely with our sponsors, we have put together a fantastic event, guaranteed to create memories that will last a lifetime.

Now in their second year, the Above & Beyond Awards will take place at the Corinthian Club in Glasgow on March 13 where finalists will enjoy free a celebratory lunch. During the ceremony, we will sing the praises of each of our amazing winners, giving them the much-needed recognition they have rightfully earned.

New for 2025, The Scottish Sun has been announced as the official Media Partner of the Awards. Teaming up with Scotland’s biggest-selling newspaper means that the inspiring stories we uncover during the Awards can be shared nationwide with the Scottish public. We hope that this will not only give consumers an even greater appreciation for the important role their local stores play in their communities, but furthermore, it can also help to tackle the retail crime epidemic the country is currently battling.

These are the only awards dedicated to convenience sales colleagues across Scotland, encompassing symbol and franchise store workers, as well as those whose shops are unaffiliated. This incredible event provides a unique opportunity to shine a spotlight on your employees’ many achievements and give them the credit they deserve. So what are you waiting for? Get cracking on that entry and let your sales stars sparkle.

Award Categories

Independent Store Colleague

Sponsored by Mondelez International
Open to all colleagues working in independently owned local retailing stores in Scotland that are unaffiliated or members of any symbol group, fascia or franchise.

Company-Owned Store Colleague

Sponsored by CJ Lang/Spar Scotland
Open to all colleagues working in CJ Lang company-owned stores in Scotland.

Business Booster

Open to all colleagues who have materially improved their store’s performance by suggesting or introducing a new concept, product, service, communication method or a change in operational process.

Team Of The Year

Sponsored by Tennent’s
Open to all in-store teams which have pulled together to make a positive difference to their store’s performance and or to their community.

Up & Coming Star

Sponsored by CCEP
Open to all colleagues aged 25 or under working in any of the store formats detailed above who have shown themselves to be outstanding colleagues with a bright future in the sector ahead of them.

Long Service Award

Sponsored by Cadbury
Open to all colleagues working in any of the store formats detailed above who have worked in the sector, or a single store or chain, for an extended period of time.

Astonishing Act

Open to all colleagues working in any of the store formats detailed above who truly went Above & Beyond to perform an astonishing act that had a massive positive impact on a customer, colleague or the community.