The award was presented by Bill Jamieson, Executive Editor of The Scotsman and Raymond Ellis of Scott Moncrieff on 25th February 2011 at a lunch held at the McDonald Holyrood Hotel, Edinburgh.
To be eligible for the award entrants had to submit a report based on a case study involving Chris & Fiona Anderson a couple who were high earners and who had received a significant inheritance but did not wish to pay Inheritance tax on their estate. This initial stage whittled down many of the entrants leaving a field of eight finalists to battle it out over the course of the year.
A portfolio was then established from the funds of the five investment groups sponsoring the Competition together with a maximum of three "wildcard" funds. Trading was permitted but as there were dealing costs involved a close eye had to be kept on costs.