by Holly Tribe
After a month of counting nominations and collecting votes, Caravan Times has revealed the full list of winners of the inaugural Caravan Times Reader’s Poll.
For the staff and readers of Caravan Times, 2010 proved to be a vintage year for caravanning – with a host of product launches and new ranges entering the market.
Bailey and Swift both unveiled radical new designs while Elddis, Lunar and Coachman launched exciting updates to their most popular models. And with newcomers Autosleepers and Stealth, caravanners had more choice than ever in 2010.
Your voice counts
As an independent online magazine with a vibrant community, Caravan Times asked its readers to vote for their favourite caravans, parks, towcars and dealers of 2010.
With thirty-four suggested entrants across six categories, the poll cast a wide net over many areas of the caravanning lifestyle. Readers were asked to vote in the following categories; Caravan of the Year 2010; Best Newcomer; Innovation Award; Best Towcar; Dealer of the Year; and Favourite Caravan Park.
Instead of the traditional judging panels comprised of industry figures and journalists, it was caravanners themselves who were asked to determine the category winners.
The public vote
The Bailey Unicorn picked up two awards: that of Best Newcomer and our Innovation Award. Readers voted Bunree Caravan Club Site as Best Caravan Park of 2010, while Bardsea Leisure took Dealer of the Year 2010. Meanwhile after the closest of contests the Kia Sorento edged out the Range Rover to win Best Towcar.
Our final category was the best overall caravan of 2010, which was a close contest between two outstanding caravans: the Bailey Unicorn and the Swift Conqueror. In the end there could only be one winner, and the Caravan of the Year 2010 was the Swift Conqueror.
Swift Group Commercial Director Nick Page was delighted to receive the award. “Congratulations to this great new online magazine for caravanners – and to win the top award where actual caravanners vote, and not journalists, makes this victory even more important.”
And Caravan Times editor Marcus Dubois spoke of giving real caravanners an opportunity to have their say. “As our first reader’s poll, we received a fantastic level of engagement from caravanners wanting to get involved and vote for their favourites. It’s great to be able to give readers a platform to vote for the caravans and services they use. As the Caravan Times community continues to grow rapidly, we look forward to making this an annual fixture in our editorial calendar.”
The winners in full (as voted for by Caravan Times readers) are as follows:
Caravan of the Year 2010: Swift Conqueror
Best Newcomer: Bailey Unicorn
Innovation Award: Use of the Alde heating system in the Bailey Unicorn
Best Towcar: Kia Sorento
Dealer of the Year: Bardsea Leisure
Favourite Caravan Park: Bunree Caravan Club
