For anyone who already knows us, you will already know that we host a monthly business networking session, where we Invite local businesses In the Peak District to come and gather at the Peak District Business Hub, on behalf the Federation of Small Businesses.
In January 2025, we are delighted to welcome FSB volunteer Rachel Hayward, who will be coming to talk to attendees about boosting your marketing efforts using business awards. So, we thought we’d put together the ultimate list of business awards that UK companies can apply for to help you get planning in the coming year!
Before you scroll through the huge list of awards below, we thought we would also offer a few tips, having been around the block a few times when it comes to putting together winning entries for business awards.
Almost all awards are entered for by someone, and this fact alone doesn’t make them a ‘con’. The Oscars and the BAFTAs have a marketing team that work on their shortlisted client’s behalf, book publishers work hard to promote their authors to get them put forward for the Booker prize as do artists’ agents for the Turner Prize. Even MBEs and OBEs have to be applied for (and Debbie can testify to this having helped put together an application).
If you hide your light under a bushel, that’s exactly where that light will continue to shine. Under a bushel, with you under the bushel too looking at and admiring It, where no one else can see.
So, throw off any prejudices you might have about entering awards and put some together as part of your business’ marketing plan and let your light shine brightly for others to see too!
Pace yourself when it comes to choosing which awards to go for, and plan them out across the full 12 months in order to keep a good pace throughout the year. As you will see from the list below, there are all sorts of categories and industries represented, and you may find yourself Immediately thinking of your own Industry when looking for awards to enter.
However, you can also often find that you qualify for other ‘verticals’ such as the pure business awards (that look at financial, sales or export performance for instance), or community awards (where businesses might have Invested In their local communities through a project, or spent time and effort for a charitable cause) and there are also person-centred categories to explore too (family businesses, BAME businesses, women-led or that recognise types of people such as Apprentices or Young People).
So, look for a good spread of awards to help paint a picture of the many facets of your business that go beyond peer-recognition within your own Industry.
And this Is where we get to point out the marketing value of painting a picture that gives a rounded view of your business. People-awards are great for celebrating employee achievements, therefore are great for retention of staff, but also great for attracting new hires. Community project or charitable-giving based awards make great PR and show that you aren’t purely in the business of doing business, which helps with perceptions of you within your local community. And of course, the sector awards are great for placing you head and shoulders above your peers within your sector.
Applying for business awards Is often about getting a good story together. Some awards look purely at financial performance or other hard deliverables, but often a good story showing how you overcame adversity, or pivoted to find new markets, turnaround your business or achieve the successes you are putting forward for an award Is needed.
So put together a good story to persuade the judges that your entry Is the only entry they should be considering for this award.
Look at the criteria for the award and match this to what you can answer from the evidences you can pull together from your business. The criteria for the award will often help you fashion a good story, as It Indicates how the judges will be reading all entries and scoring entrants on their applications.
Mostly, business awards will require you submit supporting documentation along with the entries. So along with looking at the criteria to help you put together a good story for your award entry, you will also need to make an Inventory of documentation that will also need to be submitted.
This documentation can Include an exec summary of your accounts for the judging period. Some awards also ask for the last 3 years accounts, most especially If the award Is about business growth. For sector specific awards, very specific Information might be required, such as white papers or protocol evidences, or in our line of work for marketing awards, you need to get in amongst the weeds with hard and fast evidence of Increased awareness, engagements and revenue, outputting an exec summary style report to show the outputs of the project you have put forward.
Otherwise, documentation might Include photos of community projects, people engaged in activities, or new product development processes. If you are painting a picture of company culture or great customer service, evidencing often takes the form of quotes from employees, clients or customers.
Whatever the evidences needed, it’s worth getting this all pulled together in the first place so that you have It all to hand when making your submissions.
As you scan through and click through on the list of awards below, you will find that there are a great number of them that are ‘pay-to-play’. Whilst some people might baulk at the notion of paying to enter an award, let’s give you some food for thought before you reject this outright.
The bigger and more coveted awards will often have an entry fee. This fee covers administration related to putting on the awards and for running the applications and review processes. Awards organisations pull together a panel of judges to read through applications and the panel then score entries Independently or by committee to help them decide who becomes the rightful winner.
Fees can also weed out a great number of poor-quality entries that you often see with free-to-enter awards (and Debbie can testify to this having sat as a judge a number of times!). So, the standard of applicant with a fee-based entry will be higher, but there will also be fewer entrants which improves your chances if you also put in the effort of a high-quality entry.
Many businesses will have a marketing budget for advertising, or putting together brochures, or hiring agencies or staff. Make business awards entries a part of your marketing budget too.
Firstly, let us say that the best person to tell the story accurately and with all the details needed to create a winning entry Is you. However, not everyone has the time or Inclination to go through the process of filling in all those forms, rewriting to hit the word count or emphasising one element over another in an application.
Be honest with yourself If you are not the best writer or storyteller. There Is an advantage to be had in outsourcing your awards writing to someone who can do this for you, which will improve your chances of winning.
That’s not to say that you just get someone to get on with this and not bother you during the process. You will still need to make yourself available to help tell the story, provide evidences and generally proof-read and feedback on what’s been put together so that you are comfortable with the submission. If there Is an interview as part of the process, then you will also be the person attending that interview, so it makes sense that you are fully aware of what’s been submitted in your name.
It would be true to say that awards entries can be a significant draw upon your time. And this Is right and just in order to not make a mockery of the whole enterprise (reference our first tip in this chapter about people who are scandalised by the fact that you have to enter awards yourself). There are some economies to be had though through recycling.
We started out by describing ‘getting your story straight’. As a business owner, you will recognise that there Is always a dominant story each financial year. Two years ago, you might have seen unprecedented growth. The year before that, you might have Introduced a new product or service to market that stood out from the crowd, and that this Innovation brought the subsequent year’s new growth. Last year you might have made some key hires who have helped push your business forwards, and this year you might be expanding again into new premises. Every year has a theme, and every year has a new story to tell.
If you enter a number of awards with different angles, you will find through the shortlisting notifications you receive exactly which story you got right; the story that sang to the judges. Where you have got It right once, you should then reuse in subsequent awards applications, which makes putting together subsequent entries so much easier. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
As a final parting shot before the big list of awards, we would also advise that all this Information In your awards entries shouldn’t remain only within those applications.
When judges receive your application, the first thing they will do Is to take a look at your social media presence and website to help them form a picture of the application they have in front of them.
They will need to see what’s in the application reflected back at them in your online presence. So, keep your digital marketing rolling forwards to talk about those community projects, charity fundraisers, new product launches, the fabulous apprentices you have taken on, or the new client wins and make how you portray yourself to the world the same as how you portray your business in your awards applications.
– The A’ Footwear, Shoes and Boots Design Award
– BABTAC & CIBTAC Awards
– British Pie Awards
– Drapers Footwear Awards
– DIY Week Awards
– The Fishing News Awards
– Food and Drink Federation FDF Awards
– Free From Food Awards
– Free From Skin Care Awards
– Global Makeup Awards
– The Greats Gift Retailer Awards
– International Association for Food Protection IAFP Awards
– Seafood Excellence Global Awards
– Scratch Stars Awards (UK Nail Industry)
– The Vendies Vending Industry Awards
– World Alcohol-Free Awards
– World Food Innovation Awards
– The A’ Vehicle, Mobility and Transportation Design Award
– Group Leisure and Travel Awards
– Travel + Leisure World’s Best Awards
Check each website for the exact dates:
If you’d like to talk to us about putting together a great story to help you with your business awards strategy, or you’d like help with digital marketing strategy, content marketing, SEO or anything else digital, please email us on info@destination-digital.co.uk or give us a call on 01629 810199.
If you’d like help with digital marketing, ads management, SEO, copywriting, websites, branding or social media management… or anything else related to the internet and digital, then get in touch with us. We’re a friendly bunch.
You can email us on info@destination-digital.co.uk or give us a call on 01629 810199 or you can use the contact form at the bottom of this page.