Cape Town: The annual V&A Waterfront Neighbourhood Awards are soon to be observed in Cape Town for which entries are open now. The event throws light on businesses and individuals who are thriving in retail but also leading the way in sustainable and community-driven innovation.
But what these awards are meant for, let us find out:
The V&A Waterfront hosts its annual Neighbourhood Awards to remain at the forefront and inspire while also recognizing its diverse tenant mix, that ranges from leading local and international brands to emerging small and medium-sized enterprises.
2025 is its second year. The programme strengthens resilience within the Waterfront precinct and also helps in shaping the national dialogue on economic growth.
The award ceremony aims to recognize and reward the tenants who demonstrate exceptional quality, creativity, customer service and contribution to the overall visitor experience at the V&A Waterfront. All retail, food and beverage tenants who are part of the V&A Waterfront can enter the event across all categories for which they qualify.
Considering this, the Retail Executive at the V&A Waterfront – Alex Kabalin said that the spotlight will be on, “remarkable individuals and businesses in the neighborhood who embody resilience, innovation and an unwavering dedication to the extraordinary.”
Considerable Categories
The selected categories for year 2025, highlights unique talents and contributions, which are:
- Sustainability & Impact Awards – it honours excellence in sustainability, social impact and empowerment.
- Brand & Store Experience Award – recognizes outstanding achievements in marketing, activations, renovations, fit-outs and visual merchandising.
- Service Excellence Award – celebrates exceptional customer service across retail, small business and food service.
- Store Talent Award – acknowledges frontline teams who bring excellence to the floor each and every day.
- Neighborhood Champion Award – honours neighborliness and ambassadorship within the V&A Waterfront community.
- People’s Choice Award – chosen by the general public through two rounds of voting to determine the winning store and eatery.
- Special Recognition – recognizes retail champions and long-standing tenants.
- Retail Excellence Award – determined by a composite calculation that consolidates traditional retail performance metrics, levelling the playing field for tenants of all sizes.
Judging Process
A distinguished panel of esteemed experts, with a leader in their field has been selected to judge the entries. Judging will be conducted anonymously, independently, and remotely by up to five judges per category.
However, every entry will be evaluated fairly and consistently, based on the official criteria shared before submission. Judging will take place from August 07, 2025 to September 16, 2025. The winners will be announced at an awards evening on October 01, 2025.
Setting Trends
The new ambition of V&A Waterfront is to expand on its previous success and drive even more entries, with an increase in the quality of entries across the various categories.
Considering this, Retail Executive Alex Kabalin said that to achieve this, they have streamlined the 2025 entry process to make the user experience easier, and they are calling on all of the tenants to step into the spotlight.
Note: that online entries are open and will close at 11:59 p.m. SAST on Sunday, July 27, 2025.