Entries for the annual V&A Waterfront Neighbourhood Awards are now open, shining a spotlight on businesses and individuals who are not only thriving in retail but also leading the way in sustainable, community-driven innovation.
Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming awards:
The Awards
To remain at the forefront and to inspire and recognise its diverse tenant mix, ranging from leading local and international brands to emerging small and medium-sized enterprises, the V&A Waterfront hosts its annual Neighbourhood Awards.
Now in its second year, the programme not only strengthens resilience within the Waterfront precinct but also helps shape the national dialogue on economic growth.
The awards aim to recognise and reward tenants who demonstrate exceptional quality, creativity, customer service, and contribution to the overall visitor experience at the V&A Waterfront. All retail and food and beverage tenants who are part of the V&A Waterfront can enter the awards across all categories for which they qualify.
According to Alex Kabalin, retail executive at the V&A Waterfront, the spotlight will be on “remarkable individuals and businesses in our neighbourhood who embody resilience, innovation and an unwavering dedication to the extraordinary.”
The 2025 award categories, which highlight unique talents and contributions, are as follows:
Sustainability & Impact Award: Honours excellence in sustainability, social impact and empowerment.
Brand & Store Experience Award: Recognises 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.
Neighbourhood Champion Award: Honours neighbourliness 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: Recognises 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, each 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. Every entry will be evaluated fairly and consistently, based on the official criteria shared before submission.
Judging takes place from 7 August to 16 September 2025. The winners will be announced at an awards evening on 1 October 2025.
Setting Trends
V&A Waterfront’s new ambition is to expand on its previous success and drive even more entries, with an increase in the quality of entries across the various categories.
“To achieve this, we’ve streamlined the 2025 entry process to make the user experience easier, and we’re calling on all of our tenants to step into the spotlight,” he added.
Online entries are open and close at 11:59pm SAST on Sunday 27 July 2025.
For more information on the awards visit here.
