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 October, November 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

Not the busiest time of year for general business awards, but there are a couple I would like to highlight. For more specific details about bigger schemes throughout the year, and which might be most suitable for you, please read our guide to ‘general business awards’.

The final deadline to enter The Business Brilliance Awards has been extended until 15th October. These are very well run and have some great-sounding categories, including ‘Employer of the Year’ and ‘UK Business of the Year Award’ that would look great in your marketing. 

If you are looking for something global in scope, The International Business & Leadership Awards have a great branding and a very convenient 26th November deadline. Dubai-based but open to global entry, they include categories for Customer Centricity, People, Real Estate, Government, Sustainability & CSR, as well as general Business Excellence.   

Customer Contact awards 

The UXUK Awards, established in 2013, celebrate all things related to user experience – in particular the best possible online or multi-channel experiences. Be quick – the final deadline has just been extended to 4th October.

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 be prepared for a massive five months between entry deadline and dinner, despite there being 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, that they are very much contact centre-focused.

While the 14th November deadline is approaching, 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?‘

There are two separate award schemes by the same organiser, which share an extended final 15th 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 awards dinner will be on Thursday 5th December at Le Meridien Piccadilly.  

The Employee Engagement Awards UK & Europe is another very credible scheme with an impressive list of previous winners. The deadline has just been extended until 16th October.

The Tech & Learning Awards of Excellence is a US-based scheme open to international entry and has been running for an incredible 36 years. They have just four categories and three grand winners, but 30 finalists along the way. The deadline is 15th October.

With ‘wellbeing’ very much in the spotlight and in the news, The REBA Employee Wellbeing Awards (deadline 7th November) are an excellent option to highlight your workplace strategies and culture. This is a UK-based scheme with 16 categories covering mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing, as well as categories for best use of technology and best total wellbeing strategy, among others.

The Great Place to Work are similar to the Best Companies to Work For, but are an international scheme with a deadline for completing the Trust Index Employee Survey of 15th November. More details of these ‘Best Companies’ and ‘Great Place to Work’ schemes can be found in our comprehensive guide. Boost can also help you significantly here – we have our Workplace Rankings and Indices Service to help you climb league tables and top employer rankings.     

Financial services awards

It’s a very busy part of the year for awards in the financial services sector. One of the most prominent organisers is Global Finance, which runs a few schemes of note in this period. The Best Trade Finance & Supply Chain Finance Provider Awards has four best trade finance categories, four best supply chain providers categories, nine regional awards, 16 country awards and eight US regional awards. They haven’t launched yet, but often do so at the last minute with the deadline likely to be in November. Also consider entering Global Finance’s Best Treasury & Cash Management Providers Awards. These awards have 57 categories. Like the other scheme, we don’t have a deadline as yet, but it should be end of November or the very start of December at the latest.

The FStech Awards (22nd November deadline) are based in the UK but are open to entries from across the EMEA region. They include 28 categories, of which eight are new for this year, covering all aspects of fintech and technology innovation in the sector. They culminate in a prestigious dinner held at The London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square on the 19th March 2020. Categories include: Best Use of IT in Retail Banking & Insurance; Best Use of Technology in Customer Service; IT Team of the Year; Social Responsibility Award and Best Customer Experience.

Marketing awards and PR awards

The Marketing and PR Brilliance Awards are open until the extended 15th October deadline and feature a whole host of suitable categories. Communicate Magazine runs 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 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. 

Leasing awards

The two biggest schemes in this sector close for entry at this time of year. The Fleet News Awards (deadline 21st November) feature 28 categories covering various awards for Fleet of the Year, Manufacturers, Suppliers and Headline Awards. The prestigious awards dinner will be held on 11th March 2020 at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London. The other prominent award scheme in the fleet industry, The Great British Fleet Awards, has yet to launch at the time of writing, and the website is under construction. But based on previous years, expect around 30 categories and a mid-December deadline. 

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 final extended 9th October 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.