Archive - June 2025

Exploration, resilience, and community: The Polar Academy named as Carlowrie Castle’s 2025 Isobel Award winner

On 30 May 2025, we proudly presented the seventh annual Isobel Award to The Polar Academy, a Scottish charity transforming young lives through Arctic exploration.

Honouring Isobel Wylie Hutchison’s Legacy

The Isobel Award celebrates the legacy of Arctic explorer, botanist and author Isobel Wylie Hutchison, who grew up in Carlowrie Castle. Every year we honour her memory through this special award.

Each year, the winner of the award is an individual or organisation that has overcome adversity and created a lasting, positive impact in their community. The winner receives a bespoke hand-crafted trophy, a financial donation, and one year of operational support from the Carlowrie team.

A night of inspiration

This year’s ceremony welcomed 110 invited guests from across the charity and business sectors for an evening of inspiration and connection. Guest speaker Lise Wortley, adventurer and finalist on Channel 4’s ALONE, delivered a moving keynote on pushing boundaries and reimagining historical women’s expeditions.

About the winner: The Polar Academy

The Polar Academy stood out for its powerful mission to lift young people out of “invisibility” and help them build confidence, resilience and self-worth. The charity runs an intensive year-long training programme culminating in a life-changing expedition to Greenland. To date, over 240 young people and their families have taken part.

Working with schools across Scotland, each programme includes cold chamber training at Napier University, tyre-hauling preparation, and weekly check-ins with parents and teachers—ensuring that participants are physically and mentally ready for the Arctic challenge ahead.

Founder Craig Mathieson said: “For the past 12 years we’ve had the privilege of working with some incredible young people and their families from all over Scotland. We take ordinary young people, who have unfortunately experienced some sort of trauma in their life, such as bullying or bereavement and prove to them what they are truly capable of. At the Polar Academy, we don’t just change lives, we help them find purpose, resilience and belief in themselves”

Previous winners

Past recipients of the Isobel Award include children’s mental health charity With Kids, environmental advocate Amy Bray, and wellbeing organisation Art in Healthcare. See the full list of winners here.