Kettering, Friday, 3 October 2025.
The UK Theme Park Awards moved to Wicksteed Park this year, and the most telling signal for operators and suppliers is the expert judging panel and refreshed categories. Hosted on a Thursday in September, the ceremony combined public voting with scores from nine industry specialists — including senior figures from BALPPA, Attractions.io and editorial leadership at Planet Attractions — indicating clear evaluation priorities around guest experience, technology integration and IP use. New categories such as Best Use of IP, Best Queue Line Experience or Pre‑Show, and Best Integration of Technology spotlight procurement and partnership opportunities likely to drive buying cycles and marketing claims next season. For suppliers, the hosts and production partner choices also map networking leverage and validation routes via award-led promotion. This briefing explains why venue selection, judge composition and category changes matter strategically for product development, tender timing and regional tourism partnerships — essential context for planning pitches and campaigns ahead of the next buying window.
Event basics confirmed: venue, date and hosts
Organisers confirmed that the UK Theme Park Awards 2025 will take place at Wicksteed Park in Kettering on a Thursday in September, with the ceremony scheduled for September 18; the event will be presented by television presenter Naomi Wilkinson and awards host Dave Payne [1]. TAG Live has been named as the producing partner for the ceremony and will run the event’s official livestream, with the awards presented in association with AttractionTickets.com [1].
Why Wicksteed Park matters as a host
Wicksteed Park’s selection is notable because the venue is the UK mainland’s oldest continually operating theme park, opened in 1921, and offers a compact mix of more than 25 rides alongside gardens and a pavilion — characteristics that frame the ceremony within a regional, heritage-rich context rather than a major resort setting [1]. The move follows recent editions hosted at larger resort parks, signalling a deliberate regional venue choice that could shift networking geographies for operators and suppliers [1].
Judging panel and new categories: signals for procurement and product development
The awards combine public voting with scores from a nine‑member judging panel that this year includes senior sector figures such as the chief executive of BALPPA and the founder and CEO of Attractions.io, alongside editorial leadership from Planet Attractions — a panel composition that emphasises operational standards, digital guest‑experience platforms and editorial perspectives in evaluation [2]. New categories introduced for 2025 — including Best Use of IP in an Attraction, Best Queue Line Experience or Pre‑Show, and Best Integration of Technology in a Guest Experience — explicitly foreground procurement areas (IP licensing, queuing/FX systems, and technology integration) where suppliers can demonstrate product fit and valuation during buying cycles [2].
Timing and voting mechanics that shape commercial calendars
Public voting for the awards opened on July 21 and closed on September 1, providing a clearly defined public‑engagement window that operators and suppliers could use to time promotional campaigns and product demonstrations ahead of judging; winners were announced later in September at the Wicksteed Park ceremony [2]. The two‑part scoring model — public vote plus judges’ scoring — creates a dual pathway for validation that can be leveraged in marketing and tender responses, since both consumer sentiment and expert endorsement contribute to final outcomes [2].
Panel composition as a guide to evaluation priorities
The nine judges represent a cross‑section of the attractions ecosystem: industry association leadership (BALPPA), technology platform executives (Attractions.io), sector publishers and content creators, and the awards’ organising founder — a blend that points to the relative weight the awards may place on operational robustness, digital experience metrics and media visibility when assessing entries [2]. For suppliers, the presence of technology and media leaders on the panel signals that demonstrable integration, measurable guest‑experience outcomes and clear storylines for editorial and social amplification will be persuasive in scoring [2].
Practical implications for suppliers and park operators
The refreshed categories and judge mix mean that procurement teams could prioritise solutions aligned to IP activation, queue and pre‑show design, and guest‑facing technology in their upcoming CAPEX plans and tender documents — areas now highlighted explicitly by the awards’ category set and judging expertise [2]. Hosting the ceremony at a heritage regional park and partnering with a livestream producer also creates alternative validation and exposure routes beyond large resort stages, potentially benefiting suppliers that serve mid‑market and regional operators seeking award recognition and regional destination partnerships [1][2].
How operators can translate award signals into pitching strategy
Operators preparing RFPs or seasonal investment rounds can use the awards’ category definitions and judge profiles to craft evaluation criteria that favour measurable guest‑experience KPIs, IP activation clarity and technology interoperability — areas judges and the awards’ organisers have explicitly prioritised for 2025 [2]. Aligning case studies and pilot data to those themes, and timing promotional pushes to the public‑voting window and awards livestream, presents a structured route to both consumer and expert recognition in future award cycles [1][2].
Bronnen