The winning project, "Nothing about us without us," used people with disabilities and their carers as auditors to assess the accessibility of public spaces, tourist attractions and cultural institutions across Gdańsk, identifying real barriers and proposing practical fixes based on lived experience rather than external assumptions. A central output of the project is a set of Communication Cards, developed with input from Deaf people, a simple tool designed to help staff at hotels, restaurants, cultural institutions and event organisers communicate with visitors who face communication barriers, built specifically to be easy for other cities to adopt.

Gdańsk beat four other finalists (VisitAarhus, Göteborg & Co, Culture Liverpool and Ottawa Tourism) for the award, which the jury attributed to the project's user-driven approach, universal design principles and practical tools supporting visitor independence. Gdańsk Tourism Organisation frames accessibility not as a cost but as a competitive investment, given the scale of travellers who make decisions based on whether they, and the family or friends they travel with, can use a destination's offer independently and comfortably.

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