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

Happy New Year to you all! I hope 2020 will be an award-winning year for you and your company. Although January starts slowly in terms of deadlines, there are still some key schemes to look out for – and it’s the perfect time to plan which awards to enter in 2020.

As ever, contact our team here at Boost if you need help with your entries or 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. 

Business awards

For a well-run, credible and well-established general business award to enter, you need look no further than The BQF UK Excellence Awards. Run by the British Quality Foundation, they feature some fantastic categories, for example: Excellence in Customer Experience Award, Excellence in Innovation Award, Excellence in Environmental Responsibility Award, and the most prestigious accolade, The UK Excellence Award – awarded to Large Private/Public Sector, SME/Small Public Sector and Third Sector/Not for Profit organisations. The submission deadline is 7th February.  

IT awards

For a more comprehensive overview, please read our guide, Which are the best IT awards to enter?  However, I must highlight two of the most prestigious schemes in the IT industry with January deadlines.

The European IT and Software Excellence Awards are, as the name suggests, pan-European, but very much London-based and run by IT Europa Media and Intelligence Limited. The entry forms focus on case studies and the deadline is 17th January. If you are a channel partner, reseller, system integrator, services provider, distributor, or a solution and marketing channel, then this is one for you.

Another very credible scheme in this space are The Real IT Awards. Hosted by CITF since 2004, the Real IT Awards (RITA) are known for their independence and have a particular focus on celebrating team effort. Incredibly, they are free to enter and open to anyone from any sector. Great-sounding categories include Best Place to Work, Project of the Year, Best Use of New Technologies, as well as categories for specific technology use, like Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Project of the Year and Innovation in Cyber Security & Risk Management. The deadline is 31st January, and we’ve even written a comprehensive guide to entering RITA 2020.

Customer Contact awards 

The Customer Service Excellence is a standard rather than an award scheme per se, featuring an ongoing entry process. It can be awarded if the following five criteria are adhered to: Customer Insight, The Culture of the Organisation, Information and Access, Delivery and Timeliness and Quality of Service. 

If you want a credible way to get an international award for great customer service, then you should also consider The Stevie Awards for Sales and Customer Service. As with all of the Stevie Award schemes, they feature a large number of categories (158 in this case), so there is something for everyone – from individual awards to team and departmental awards. The deadline is 9th January 2020, so you need to be quick! 

Another global scheme based in the US, The ContactCenterWorld Global Top Ranking Performers Awards, are now in their 15th year. They have numerous categories for both in-house and out-sourced contact centres of varying sizes, awards for individuals, technology, campaigns and customer service. You will need to apply before 31st January. 

HR awards and recruitment awards

I wanted to share a quick summary of 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 PPMA in The PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards stands for Public Sector People Management Association – which explains the emphasis on HR in the public sector, mostly focused on local and central government. Their deadline is 13th January and there are four awards for recruitment from a dozen categories on offer.

The Employee Benefits Awards are a firm favourite here at Boost, and we get booked up very fast, so contact us to see which categories we can still help you enter. Our ethics policy means we never write competing entries for the same category. These awards feature a whole raft of categories, including Benefits Team of the Year, Best Healthcare and Wellbeing Benefits, Best Mental Health Strategy and Employee Benefits Professional of the Year. You can expect a final deadline of 17th January.

The Recruiter Awards, it could be argued, are THE awards for the UK recruitment agency sector, run by Recruiter Magazine and held at the massive Great Room at Marriott Grosvenor House. These awards have a deadline of 29th January. This year, there are a total of 30 categories, the majority of which are for recruitment agencies.

Finally, in the HR space, I would like to highlight The UK Employee Experience Awards. Another well-run scheme from Awards International, these awards feature 11 categories covering such aspects as Employee Training & Development, Employee Engagement, Use of Digital Technologies and the very popular category, Best Company to Work For. The deadline is 31st January, so I recommend getting started on your entry straight away.   

Pensions awards

It’s Pension Award season with a number of the key schemes coming up. For more information read our extensive guide ‘Which are the best Pension Awards to enter?‘

The Money Marketing Awards are a UK-based scheme run by Centaur, and while not explicitly for pensions, they do have a strong bias for them. The scheme is actually for far more than just marketing, as it also covers advisers and providers. Beware though, they charge for finalists and winners to use the logo! This year’s deadline is 17th January.

The UK Pensions Awards are run by Professional Pensions, and have a 20th January submission deadline.They feature 39 categories covering every dimension of pensions, including fund managers, providers, third-party administrators and even thought leadership.

As mentioned under HR, The Employee Benefits Awards have various pensions categories as well as broader benefits categories. The Pension and Investment Provider Awards (PIPA) are now open for 2020. In my opinion, they are very much ‘In the industry’ and not HR-focused. The categories are divided between Scheme Services and Investment Services. Deadline is 31st January.

It can be massively time-saving to re-purpose award entries for other schemes, so perhaps also consider entering The European Pensions Awards by the 21st February deadline. Or a broader financial services scheme like The Corporate Adviser Awards (deadline is 28th February), which includes lots of suitable categories for the Pensions industry.   

Marketing awards and PR awards

I strongly recommend entering this year’s Performance Marketing Awards, hosted by PerformanceIN. Lots of great categories divided between Channel, Campaign, Vertical and Industry Awards. They are credible and winnable – get your entry in before the upcoming 23rd January deadline.  

The Marketing Society Brave Awards is the new branding for the Marketing Society Excellence Awards. The deadline for 2020 is 14th February. In their own words, the 15 categories recognise: “The teams behind campaigns that demonstrated not only marketing excellence but also bravery in their approach to a considerable challenge, pushed boundaries or made an impact either in business or society in general.”

The CIPR Excellence Awards are arguably the most prestigious of the PR awards. They’re technically open to international entry – but in reality, they’re very UK-focused. There’s a deadline of 27th February with lots of categories to choose from, mostly for campaigns – but many for agencies and teams too.

Healthcare awards

A special mention to one of the most prominent schemes in UK healthcare, The BMJ Awards, which are now open for entry until 17th January. Now in their 12th year, they feature 16 categories for 2020, including two Special Recognition Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Health and UK Research Paper of the Year.

Construction awards

Last but not least, it’s a busy time for some of the most prominent awards in the world of UK construction. The Construction News Awards (deadline 24th January), attracts many big names in the industry, with a prestigious event in July at Grosvenor House Hotel. Or you could consider entering the similarly highly-credible Constructing Excellence Awards, with a 31st January deadline just a week later.

Hopefully these highlights have provided some insights to help you plan which awards to enter. 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!  

Finally, I would like to wish you all the best of luck with your awards strategy/entering awards – and hope 2020 will be an award-winning year for you. 

Chris.