It’s now six years since the British Sign Awards were launched as a joint venture with what was then the BSGA (British Sign and Graphics) but which has since become ISA-UK.

Ray Hirst, who created the awards with his wife Val, long-time editor of Signs and Sign Directions magazines, and has run them from the outset, says that over the period hundreds of sign businesses have submitted their work to be assessed by the independent panel of judges.

“The awards have served to highlight the outstanding work of UK sign makers .   The skills and abilities of the UK industry have been epitomised in particular by the six winners of the prestigious Sign of the Year title.

“Winners of the Sign of the Year title have been selected by the judges as the best of the best and over the years we have seen some remarkable projects take the ultimate prize.”

Kettering-based Sign of the Times, now in partnership with Gateshead-based Astley Signs,  took the top award in both 2014 and 2015.  A complex reception display created for the Heinz European Innovation Centre in Holland won in 2014 and Sign of the Times took the top title again in 2015 for its incredible ‘Timeless’ project installed in the atrium at St George’s House in London.

In 2016 Newman Signs took the award for its show-stopping signage for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre in London – signage that became a tourist attraction in its own right.

2017 saw isGroup win the title for its outstanding re-branding of Storyhouse,  a theatre, cinema and library complex housed in a listed building in Chester city centre. In 2018 the top award went to Blaze Signs for complex and highly engineered signage at the Grafton Retail Centre in Cambridge.

The latest winner is London-based Goodwin and Goodwin, who were awarded for their work in creating and engineering intricate art deco style signage for Dorset House in London.

“Sign of the Year is the ultimate accolade, but the fact is that the winners and commended entries in all the award categories demonstrate that fantastic creativity and skills exist throughout the sign industry in the UK,” said Ray Hirst.  “ We can’t wait to see what 2020 brings.”

The British Sign Awards are open to all UK signmakers (membership of ISA-UK (BSGA) is not a requirement and judging is by an independent panel of industry experts.