Scottish Bakers has won the Conference Development Award at the UK Association Awards 2015.

It was nominated for the Scottish Bakers Annual Conference and Awards 2015 and beat off competition from the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) and the Incorporated Society of Musicians.

The UK Association Awards is organised by the Associations Network, the largest association of network executives in the UK and Europe with over 15,000 members. It aims to recognise excellence in membership organisations and prides itself on being a no-fee event, neither charging for submissions nor for shortlisted candidates to attend.

Alan Clarke, chief executive of Scottish Bakers, said: “This is an absolutely amazing achievement. We started four years ago with a very traditional conference and over the last four years have grown this into a must-attend event. Even the difference between our 2014 conference, which we were told by our members was world-class and we could never beat, was eclipsed in terms of attendance, quality and member engagement by our 2015 conference. Our aim is to break even and to seriously engage with our members and add value to their businesses.”

Judging criteria for the Conference Development Award included content, design, marketing, sponsorship and delegate and sponsorship experience. Growth in terms of value for stakeholders and association members and overall size were taken into account.