The trade’s leading luxury magazine, Aspire, will once again celebrate the achievements of the high-end travel sector with an exciting awards ceremony honouring the dedication and determination shown by outstanding individuals and companies.

Celebrating the very best brands, the most passionate trade teams and most innovative agents in the industry, the Aspire Awards is an unmissable evening that will give the shining lights of the industry a chance to celebrate their achievements.

This year, the event will be held on December 14 at Kimpton Clocktower Hotel in Manchester. It will be the fourth year Aspire has held its annual awards ceremony in Manchester after relocating the event in 2023 to reflect the wealth of luxury travel brands and agencies based in the north of the country.

Unsung heroes from across the sector will be recognised in a new series of categories aimed to celebrate those who work behind the scenes to make an agent’s life easier.

After gathering feedback from luxury agents, the Aspire team has reinvented the popular Unsung Hero supplier category, dividing it into five sub-categories to ensure those working behind the scenes are honoured in the following areas: On the Road; Sales Support; Product; After-sales and Concierge; and Leadership. Agents are being asked to nominate their favourites in each category.

Also new are four agent awards that recognise individuals as opposed to businesses. Homeworker of the Year, Retail Agent of the Year, Cruise Agent of the Year and Concierge Agent of the Year join the roster of agent gongs up for grabs.

This year’s entry process will once again combine both a written submission and a short, recorded piece to camera, both of which will be shown to judges. The two-minute video should simply sum up why each entrant believes they should win the respective category they’re entering.

As is the case every year, there will be multiple judging panels, some of which will take place virtually and some in person, to ensure there is no bias in the process. Judges will submit their chosen winners individually, and the Aspire team will combine the results to establish the winners. As always, judges of each category will not know who has won until the winners are announced on the night.

Virgin Atlantic is headline sponsor of the Aspire Awards for the first time, with other sponsors including Above by CV Villas; AMOH, a Luxury Collection Resort, Rhodes; Domes Resorts; easyJet holidays; Explora Journeys; Grecotel Hotels & Resorts; Kerzner International; Oceania Cruises; Pure Luxury; Regent Seven Seas Cruises; and Silversea.