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 May, June and beyond.

It’s fair to say that this time of year is one of the busiest in the award calendar, with a whole host of deadlines in May, while at Boost we tend to describe June as ‘silly season’ as it gets so busy. 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. 

General business awards

The National Business Awards (31st May)
Top Track 100 (1st June)
UK Business Awards (The Dons) (5th July)

A very credible UK scheme of note is The Chamber Awards, a popular one with our clients. Due to the regional versions they are winnable too, so we have a great track record here. In fact, you may want to read our winning tips for The Chamber Awards article. There are only eight categories, which include great-sounding accolades like Small Business of the Year, Export Business of the Year and Best Use of Technology, among others.  

If you’re looking for more global recognition, then do consider The International Business Awards (The International Stevies). These US-based awards feature well over a hundred categories, so there is something for everyone, from apps, websites, teams, departments, products, services and the business as a whole. Deadline here is 12th June, although they have often extended this considerably in previous years. 

Customer Service awards 

The CCA Excellence Awards (Customer Contact Association): These awards have a big entry form and a second stage that is usually done over the phone. The deadline is 14th June this year – two weeks earlier than last year. They have 14 categories – sector-specific categories, some innovation categories, and four leader categories. Popular with big-name brands, last year’s winners included Barclays, Sky and NHS 24.

The UK Customer Experience Awards feature a two-stage process, with a deadline of 28th June this year. There are loads of sector-specific categories, and some interesting ones too, including Customers at the Heart of Everything and Employees at the Heart of Everything. So, if you are delivering an outstanding customer experience, these could be a great option. I recommend reading our guide to entering the UK Customer Experience Awards first. 

Also be aware that The European Contact Centre and Customer Service Awards (the ever-so catchy ECCCSAs) are now open until 12th July.

HR awards and training awards

I mentioned these last month, but wanted to share a quick summary of all the many HR awards on the horizon; it really is ‘HR season’ so I wouldn’t want you to miss out. Our more detailed guide is here – ‘Which are the best HR awards to enter?‘

The Recruitment Marketing Awards feature plenty of categories for recruitment ad creatives, effectiveness and agencies. There are some changes this year (the CIPD is no longer involved, for example) and the deadline is 5th June.

The TJ Awards (Training Journal): Firm favourites of ours, these are very credible UK awards focused on all things training-related. Deadline is 12th June. There are lots of categories to choose from, and a great feature is that you can enter a project into up to three of them – e.g. one story could go into Best Public Sector Programme, Best Training Partnership and Best Operational Programme. 

Britain’s Healthiest Workplace is a scheme run by the insurance provider Vitality. You will need to register by 14th June, while the survey completion deadline is 28th June. Categories are available for small, medium and large companies for Healthiest Workplace, Healthiest New Entrant and Most Improved Workplace. Each category has a winner, as well as two highly commended.

The Personnel Today Awards: These UK awards have a deadline of 7th June and are always extremely popular within the industry, with a lavish ceremony in the Great Room at Marriott Grosvenor House. There are 22 categories this year, including a new one – the Sustainable Business Award. While there are a lot of the usual HR awards categories you might expect, there are a few extras; for example: Apprenticeship Employer of the Year, Graduate Scheme of the Year, HR Consultancy of the Year, Innovation in Recruitment Award and L&D Team of the Year.

The Learning Technologies Awards are open to international entry and were formerly known as The E-learning Awards. While there is a registration deadline of 28th June, you do get an extra month to submit the entry (31st July). Please note there is a second stage, so any vendor considering them will need to get any clients to commit to attending. Boost can help you with this second stage.

Marketing awards

There are some massive awards on the horizon in marketing, so I will keep it brief: 

Firstly, one of the biggest ones for general marketing agencies is The Marketing Week Masters Awards. You will need to be quick though – deadline is 3rd May.

Next, arguably one of the most important for PR – The CIPR PRide Awards. Late entry deadline this year is 11th June.

If you are involved in the world of B2B, then The International B2B Marketing Awards are definitely worth considering. Now very much positioning themselves as an international awards scheme, having previously been UK-only, these awards keep growing in stature. Deadline here is 12th June. 

Finally, one of the key awards for marketing in one of the sectors we specialise in – financial services.The FSF Marketing Effectiveness Awards remain open until 21st June. Despite being focused on one industry and one discipline, these are popular awards and surprisingly competitive. Nonetheless, we have an excellent win rate here.

And that allows me to segue neatly into the final theme for this month…

Banking awards and accountancy awards

The Banker Tech Projects Awards are open to international entry with a deadline of 17th May. The categories include all aspects of tech, from AI and robotics to cyber security and data. Also, crucially, compliance and digital transformation is in the mix.

Another big international scheme is The World’s Best Digital Bank Awards by Global Finance. There are tons of categories to enter, each one with regional and country-specific awards. These awards close 17th May.

A very interesting new scheme just launched is called Culture in Finance, which aims to recognise those rebuilding public trust in the financial services sector and create positive work cultures. A great new addition with a deadline of 5th July.  

The accounting sector doesn’t have masses of awards, but there is a very prominent scheme coming up, which helps to differentiate providers in a competitive sector. The British Accountancy Awards are associated with Accountancy Age magazine, making them extremely credible in the industry. Categories include: Practice Excellence, Team of the Year, Excellence in Accounting and Finance, as well as awards for Individual Excellence. Enter by 17th May for a chance to attend the lavish event at Grosvenor House on the 25th September. 

Hopefully these highlighted awards have provided some insights to help you plan which awards to enter – I wish you the best of luck during this busy awards season. Below you will find all the awards in 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.