Award deadlines coming up (scroll down below text for a list of awards organised by industry) 

Welcome to my overview of upcoming awards to look out for during September, October and beyond.

As ever, contact our team here at Boost if you need help with your entries or further guidance on which awards to enter, but please bear in mind that we work on a first-come-first-served basis – and our capacity is filling up fast so don’t leave it until the last minute. 

General business awards and business leaders

There are some very big schemes coming up. Specific details about many of these, and which might be most suitable for you, can be found in our guide to ‘general business awards’.

Widely considered the most high-profile and prestigious award of them all, The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is open for entry until 10th September. There are a number of changes to this year’s categories, which are for Innovation, International Trade, Promoting Opportunity Through Social Mobility, as well as new entry requirements for Sustainable Development that  now align with at least one of the United Nations (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The entry form is an absolute beast (an estimated 25 hours minimum required), so I recommend you view our video and comprehensive guide: How to Win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise. Better still, contact us to discuss how we can help you. We have written 26 winning entries over the years, so have a lot of experience with these awards.

The Amazon Growing Business Awards (12th September) are also UK-only awards and, as the name suggests, require at least two financial years of accounts to prove strong growth. This scheme is highly competitive, and written entry only, but we have noticed that green-related companies do particularly well in these awards.

The Big Awards for Business (Business Intelligence Group) are international awards run from New York. They have a deadline of 13th September. I want to draw your attention to the fact that, as well as industry, individual and organisation categories, they also, unusually, have product categories. This is very rare and so potentially a great way to earn an award for a product or service.  

If you know of an inspirational female leader or colleague, then definitely consider The Stevie Awards for Women in Business. These international awards, which are not just for entrepreneurs, are open until 18th September (but are likely to extend beyond this).

You have until the 1st October deadline to enter The Business Brilliance Awards. These are very well run and have some great sounding categories, including ‘Employer of the Year’ and ‘UK Business of the Year Award’.  

Customer Contact awards 

The GSA UK Awards (formerly The National Outsourcing Association Awards) are particularly popular in the contact centre outsourcing space, although they welcome other areas of outsourcing. The deadline here is 13th September.

The UXUK Awards (27th September deadline), established in 2013, celebrate all things related to user experience – in particular the best possible online or multi-channel experiences.

One of the most credible of the customer contact awards, The ICS UK Customer Satisfaction Awards is now open. They are UK-only awards by the Institute of Customer Service “the professional body for customer service”. They are free to enter, but a charge of £250 + VAT is made for compiling the feedback. They have a deadline of 18th October and will take place on 3rd March 2020 at Hilton on Park Lane, London. So a massive 5 months between entry deadline and dinner despite only one stage to the judging.

With a similar message, and a similar deadline, The Customer Contact Innovation Awards by the Planning Forum has a deadline of 20th October. Their entry process is far more thorough and in-depth than any other customer contact award scheme. Please note though, they are very much contact centre focused.

Whilst the 14th November deadline is still some way off, definitely consider The UK Complaint Handling Awards. These are fairly unique awards dealing with this aspect of great customer service.

HR awards and training awards

I wanted to share a quick summary of the HR-related awards on the horizon, but for more information please check out our more detailed guide here – ‘Which are the best HR awards to enter?‘

The Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology Program (6th September) is an international awards scheme run from the US by the Brandon Hall Group and associated with its HCM Excellence Conference.

The Stonewall Top 100 Employers celebrates the best employers for LGBT people and is produced from the results of The Stonewall Workplace Equality Index. The deadline for applications is 7th September, and participating employers demonstrate their work in ten areas of employment policy and practice. Staff from across the organisation also complete an anonymous survey about their experiences of diversity and inclusion at work.

One of the most recognised schemes in the UK – The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For – is open until 27th September. Run by Best Companies, there are several different league tables for different sectors and company sizes (minimum 50 employees), and a few additional awards too. This year, companies can also be recognised regionally.  

The Learning Awards (27th September), by the Learning and Performance Institute, is open to international entry but do have a UK-focus. Each of the 18 categories has a bronze, silver and gold award and there is a two-stage entry process.

Two separate awards schemes by the same organiser, share a 1st October deadline – The HR Brilliance Awards and The Internal Communications Brilliance Awards. Lots of great sounding categories to benefit your organisation like ‘HR Team of the Year’ and ‘Brilliance in Employee Engagement’ among others.

The Employee Engagement Awards UK & Europe is another very credible scheme with an impressive list of previous winners. The deadline for these is 9th October. 

Financial services awards and Pensions awards

This year, we are proud to be partnering with The Card and Payments Awards, a very well-run scheme open to those in the UK and Republic of Ireland until the 23rd September deadline.

The Professional Pensions Investment Awards is open until 27th September, a highly credible scheme in the Pensions industry. 

Marketing awards and PR awards

A couple of schemes to consider from the Don’t Panic Events team – The UK Search Awards (6th September) for all things SEO, PPC and SEM, and The UK App Awards (13th September deadline). The Marketing and PR Brilliance Awards is open until the 1st October deadline and feature a whole host of suitable categories. Communicate Magazine run two very credible schemes in this period – The Corporate Content Awards (4th October) and The Transform Awards Europe (11th Oct), the latter celebrating excellence in rebranding and brand strategy.  Also consider entering The Vega Digital Awards, a prominent international scheme for digital media excellence, before the 31st October deadline.  
A very prestigious scheme, just beyond our usual deadline horizon, has now opened for entries – The CIM Marketing Excellence Awards. This year there are 22 categories, including six new ones, and the deadline is 8th November. 

CSR awards

We strongly recommend entering a brilliantly-run scheme in the US, The SEAL Awards – honouring Sustainability, Environmental Achievement and Leadership. Open to all industry sectors, you must enter before the 20th September deadline.

Hopefully these highlighted awards have provided some insights to help you plan which awards to enter – I wish you the best of luck with your awards strategy. Below you will find all the awards with deadlines occurring within the next two months, organised by industry sector. Remember, do please contact Boost if you need a helping hand entering any of these – our in-house team of experienced award writers have won over 1,300 awards and can increase your chances of a win significantly.

You can also sign up for our email deadline reminder service, so that the next two months of deadlines arrive in your inbox – completely free of charge. Handy, I think you will agree!  

Chris.