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 over the festive season and into the new year. Christmas is understandably quieter on both the deadline-front and in terms of events, as Christmas party season replaces award ceremonies, but there are definitely still some key schemes to look out for and its a great time of year to plan ahead which awards to enter in 2020.

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. 

Customer Contact awards 

The Top 50 Companies for Customer Service are a UK scheme with a 2nd December deadline. In addition to the league table based on mystery shopping, there are a number of special awards that can be entered as well. 

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 can be 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 here is 9th January 2020. 

Another global scheme based in the US, The ContactCenterWorld Global Top Ranking Performers Awards, are now in their 15th year. They feature a large number of 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 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 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 UK awards recently changed hands and are now owned by DVV Media HR Group. They 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.

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 some way off at 31st January, but with Christmas fast approaching, I recommend getting started on your entry now.   

Pensions awards

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

The UK Pensions Awards are run by Professional Pensions, and while they have a 20th Jan deadline, you do need to register by 13th December so you will need to be quick! They feature 39 categories covering every dimension of pensions, including the fund managers, the providers, third party administrators and even thought leadership.

The Money Marketing Awards are a UK-based scheme run by Centaur, and whilst not explicitly for pensions, they do have a strong bias for them. Beware though, they still charge for finalists and winners to use the logo! The scheme is actually for far more than just marketing, as it also cover advisers and providers. At the time of writing they are yet to open, but last year’s deadline was 18th January.

As mentioned above under HR, The Employee Benefits Awards have loads of pensions categories as well as broader benefits categories, so are also relevant here. The Pension and Investment Provider (PIPA Awards) 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 here is 31st January.   

Marketing awards and PR awards

As previously mentioned, The Vega Digital Awards, are a prominent international scheme for digital media excellence. They just extended their final deadline to 12th December, so you still have a bit of time to submit your entry. The AVA Digital Awards are US-based but open to international entry. Categories include digital marketing awards, websites, mobile and social media. The deadline is also 12th December.

Recruitment awards

A slightly niche scheme, The ONREC Online Recruitment Awards are UK-based and affiliated to ONREC online magazine.They have a deadline of 14th December and feature categories for platforms, campaigns, individuals and providers.

The PPMA Excellence in People Management Awards. I am mentioning these because they used to have a separate recruitment award scheme, which has been absorbed into the main awards scheme. PPMA 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 due to its heritage there are Ffour awards for recruitment from a dozen categories on offer.

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

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 sixteen categories for 2020, including two Special Recognition Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Health and UK Research Paper of the Year.

IT awards

For a more comprehensive overview, please read our guide, Which are the Best IT Awards to Enter? I do want to quickly mention a great scheme in the healthcare and medical technology world. The MedTech Visionaries Awards are US-based, but open to entries from around the world. Their focus is very much on the people and technological achievements that are of benefit to society. They are free to enter before the final 17th December deadline. Another similarly niche IT scheme, but in the world of emerging tech, is open until 31st December – The Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.    

To finish up, we have two 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 dinner is at The Royal Garden Hotel London in March. The entry forms focus very much on case studies and the deadline is 17th January, so clearly they will need to be prepared in December. If you are a channel partner, reseller, system integrator, services provider, distributor, or a solution and marketing channel from across Europe, 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 here is 31st January, and we have even written a comprehensive guide to entering RITA 2020.

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!  

Finally, I would like to wish you all best wishes for a wonderful festive period and hope 2020 will be an award-winning year for you. 

Chris.