Taking place on the evening of 1 October at London’s Bankside Hotel, the ceremony will award prizes across 14 categories – five for the travel trade, seven for expedition cruise lines and two special recognition ones. 

The travel trade categories include: best expedition cruise travel agency; best expedition cruise tour operator (Atol bonded); best individual expedition cruise seller/travel advisor; best newcomer to expedition cruise – travel agent or tour operator and best newcomer to expedition cruise – cruise seller/travel advisor. 

The trade awards will be judged by a panel of ECN cruise line members and industry professionals can nominate themselves or be nominated by others until 5pm of 5 September.

Meanwhile, the seven expedition cruise operator categories – which include best expedition cruise operator for luxury and best cruise operator for the polar destination – will be judged by ECN travel trade members. 

“At the Expedition Cruise Network, we are in the privileged position to see first-hand the fantastic work being done across the expedition cruise industry,” said ECN co-founder Akvile Marozaite.

“We have launched these inaugural awards dedicated to expedition cruising to celebrate and share this work with the wider industry.”