The King’s Awards for Enterprise
Winners have reported benefiting from worldwide recognition, increased commercial value, greater media coverage and an increase in staff morale.
A business can nominate itself and the closing date for entries is 12 September.
Eligibility
An organisation is eligible if it is:
- Based in the UK, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
- Files its Company Tax Returns with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)
- Is a self-contained enterprise that markets its own products or services and is under its own management
- Has at least two full-time UK employees or part-time equivalents
- Demonstrates strong corporate social responsibility
The organisation can be business or non-profit.
More detailed information and a nomination form can be found on the Gov.uk website
Award Categories
International Trade
To apply for the International Trade award, you must also:
- Have made a minimum of £100,000 in overseas sales in the first year of your entry and show year-on-year growth
- Prove that your organisation has achieved outstanding growth in overseas earnings relative to your business size and sector
- Prove steep year-on-year growth (without dips) in overseas sales over 3 years – or substantial year-on-year growth (without dips) over 6 years
Sustainable Development
To apply for the Sustainable Development award, you must also:
- Show how you have achieved outstanding sustainable development for more than two years
- Provide evidence of the benefits or positive outcomes of your actions or interventions
Innovation
To apply for the Innovation award, you must also:
- Have an innovation that has not been sold before
- Have had your innovation available on the market for at least 2 years
- Have recovered all the investments made in your innovation or show that the innovation will recover its full costs in future
- Show outstanding commercial success as a result of innovation over 2 years – or continuous commercial success over 5 years
Your innovation should be in one of the following categories:
- Invention, design or production of goods
- Performance of services
- Marketing and distribution
- After-sale support of goods or services
Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility
To apply for this award, your organisation must have a programme that supports people from disadvantaged backgrounds in improving their job skills and their chances of finding work.
This includes doing one or more of the following, for at least two years:
- Providing work experience or careers advice
- Mentoring
- Offering interview and job-related training
- Making sure your recruitment process is open to everyone
You’ll need to prove the benefits for:
- The people you’ve supported
- Your organisation
- Your employees
- The wider community
Young Founder
Created as part of the Department for Business and Trade’s Small Business Plan, this new Award will recognise founders aged 18–30 who are actively leading their businesses and driving growth and opportunity.
The Young Founder category is designed to showcase entrepreneurship as an attractive and viable career path.
Businesses will be assessed for creative thinking, industry influence, leadership, resilience and customer value.
Applicants will have to demonstrate commercial success or growth potential with turnover of £250,000 or external funding of £500,000.