One of the highlights of the stone industry calendar is the Natural Stone Awards, presented at a glittering ceremony every other year. This year the Awards will be presented on 5 December at the Hotel Russell in Russell Square, London… and entries for the Awards are now being accepted. You can download an entry form below.

Is your work in stone good enough to stand comparison with the best that has been produced in the UK in the past two years? Is the design, the processing of the stone and its fixing to the highest possible standard?

If it is, it could join that gallery of some of the finest stonework in new build and conservation, in hard landscaping and interiors that has been judged the best of the best in the Natural Stone Awards over the years.

The finest of Britain’s architecture, interior design, conservation work and landscape architecture has featured in the Natural Stone Awards, now well into their fourth decade, because so often what helps define the finest is the use of stone – whether the stone is indigenous or has been sourced from any of its myriad sources across the world.

Complementing the best designs have been examples of the best working and fixing of stone as the skills of the stonemason continue to make an irreplaceable contribution to expanding and maintaining the built heritage of the United Kingdom.

Whether it is limestone, sandstone, granite, marble or any of the other diversity of stones the earth has to offer, nothing says solidity, longevity, quality, a sense of purpose and place as much as natural stone. No other building material offers such an enormous diversity of colour, pattern, texture and uses. And because the diversity is all supplied by nature there are no high energy-consuming kilns or smelting plant belching CO₂ into the atmosphere in its production. It is one of the most sustainable of building materials.

The Natural Stone Awards recognise and celebrate all these attributes and more in the built heritage created and maintained by an industry that dates back to the dawn of civilisation.

Celebrate your contribution to that heritage by using the form you can download above to enter your work in the Natural Stone Awards 2014, a scheme run by Stone Federation Great Britain and judged by a team of renowned architects in consultation with stonemasons.

Winning brings its own rewards but also has the benefit of adding a recognised honour to your company and your personal CV that in itself can help you gain more projects of the highest calibre.