The Board of the American Scottish Foundation (ASF) are honored to announce that the 2024 Wallace Award will be presented to Sir Jim Walker, CBE, for his outstanding contribution to transatlantic relationships and to Scotland’s world of food and drink. Walker’s, with a global reach and over 1400 employees, celebrate in 2024 their 125th anniversary.
Sir Jim Walker is the grandson of Walker’s Shortbread founder Joseph. Along with his brother Joe and sister Marjorie, he helped to develop the company from being a village bakery selling only in Speyside, Scotland to an international company represented in around 100 overseas markets. Walker’s Shortbread has now become a flagship of Scottish foods, and the company has become the largest family-owned biscuit manufacturer in the UK. In 2022, Sir Jim was knighted in Queen Elizabeth II’s last Birthday Honours list and subsequently was invested by King Charles III at the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh. The Honour of Knighthood was in recognition of exceptional services to the food industry.
Young Scot Wallace Award
Alongside the Wallace Award, ASF introduced in 2023 the Young Scot Wallace Award to recognize a young person of Scottish descent who is making exceptional strides in their field of endeavor. THE ASF are delighted to announce that the Young Scot Wallace Award will be presented to Siobhan Mackenzie. The award-winning young designer has already made an exceptional contribution to the world of fashion and design – taking it forward in a fresh new and yet classic direction. Siobhan Mackenzie is a self-named authentic Scottish fashion label, founded in 2014, when the designer was twenty-one years old.
The company takes its inspiration from its Highland heritage- set up by Siobhan Mackenzie who is a multi-award winning Fashion Designer from The Black Isle. Siobhan champions a Made in Scotland ethos where traditional craftsmanship and modern design thinking are fused together to create the brand’s signature aesthetic. An advocate for slow fashion and sustainability, the designer is proud to work in contrast to the fast-fashion industry. Mackenzie’s upbringing influenced the choices within her business, her father, an environment officer for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency installed sustainability into her as a child. The luxury brand has gone on to be featured in the likes of the Scottish Banner, Forbes, GQ, Elle US, Kobe Fashion Museum Japan and The V&A Dundee Museum. Clients include Jared Leto, Justin Bieber, The Royal Family, The Commonwealth Games, Bergdorf Goodman & the LVMH group.
The Annual Wallace Dinner and Awards will take place on Friday, November 1 in New York. The evening will also mark the 50th anniversary of the first Scotland Week, organized by the American Scottish Foundation co-founder, Lady Natalie Douglas Hamilton during the week of November 10th, 1974 – a template for the ever-growing New York Tartan Week celebrations of today. There will once again be an extensive online and in person silent auction of exceptional items. The Wallace Awards evening will benefit the ongoing work of the American-Scottish Foundation directed to the ASF Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton Youth Bursary Program
To learn more about the ASF and the Wallace Awards, visit: www.americanscottishfoundation.com/events/2024-Wallace-Award.html