THE hunt is on to find Scotland's green heroes who deserve an award for their role in helping to improve the environment.
People across the country are being urged to think of the environmental champions in their own communities and nominate them for an award.
The Scottish Green List has been launched by the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum.
It is looking
for the top 50 green champions in Scotland, so they can inspire others and help form a network of people in the environmental movement. The winners could be individuals who have to set up a project in their town or village, a member of an organisation, a politician or even a group.
They could be tackling environmental issues in their own community, or at a national or international level.
Professor James Curran, the chairman of the Scottish Sustainable Development Forum, said: "We are looking for the individuals who have made a difference.
"It is pretty dismal at the moment and we thought it was the ideal time to try to celebrate all the fantastic people who are doing things in all walks of life towards making Scotland a better place to live.
"We want to let other people know about them."
He hopes the green champions will help form a network across Scotland to exchange ideas about how to protect the environment.
"There are so many people doing fantastic things for the environment and that can sometimes be at a very local level," he said.
"It could be they have restored a wildlife park, improved their village, or a farmer could have adopted new methods.
"What is really important for me is that every single one of these people will have a really inspirational story to tell."
Prof Curran added that research suggested that green champions were making communities happier and more successful, which is another reason their achievements should be celebrated.
He expects there to be tough competition, and urged people to nominate anyone they thought deserved to be added to the Scottish Green List.
The deadline for entries is 9am on Monday, 23 March.
Winners will be invited to an award ceremony at The Scotsman's offices in Edinburgh on 22 April, and will be featured in the newspaper.
Anyone nominating a green champion will need to write about 300 words describing the person and their achievements.
The judging panel includes Prof Curran; Samantha Barber, chief executive of Scottish Business in the Community; Susan Ramsay, assistant director of corporate affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Services; Antonia Swinson, chief executive of the Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition; Karen Titulaer, head of external affairs at Royal Bank of Scotland; and Colin McNeill, head of content at The Scotsman.
Mr McNeill urged as many people as possible to nominate colleagues, friends or neighbours.
"This is a great opportunity for green champions in communities to be given the recognition they deserve," he said.
"I am looking forward to hearing about all the inspirational work of people across Scotland to help make their communities a greener place to live."
• To find out more, including how to nominate someone, visit
www.ssdforum.org.ukThe full article contains 533 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
