Categories

Award Categories

Scroll down and click on a category below to view the criteria and enter. 


Entry Prices and Key Dates


Earlybird rate - £249+VAT                    Standard rate - £299 +VAT

Deadline: 10th May 2024                      Deadline: 21st June 2024


This award is for a company that is showing a clear and deliverable environmental, social and corporate governance strategy. Judges will be looking for a business that isn’t just talking but doing and also one that is supporting its ESG strategy with commercial growth too.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Award For ESG And Social Impact

Judges will be looking for:

  • Evidence of your ESG strategy now and plans for the future
  • How you are delivering environmental results as a business
  • Your plans around encouraging diversity and change
  • Any information around how you are supporting people from low income backgrounds
  • Evidence of strong commercial performance
  • Any information around activities that stimulate interest in the arts, community engagement, encourage enterprise or raise aspiration
  • Clear metrics around how you are measuring the impact of your ESG strategy

This award will be given to an individual that has made an outstanding contribution to business and industry through years of dedication and hard work. This award is open to business leaders who don’t meet the OECD Scale-Up definition and may have previously worked in a fast-growth business or advised one, or are currently active in a leadership position.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Business Leader Of The Year

Judges will be looking for : 

• A breakdown of the entrants business ‘story’

• Information about the entrants business history and any relevant financial information

• An overview of any non-executive business positions and any charitable or community work

• Any examples of where entrants leadership has delivered particularly successful results

• Information highlighting any career successes and milestones



This award is open to a businesses employing up to 10 employees; and is open for businesses operating in any sector within the UK.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Customer Champion Award

Judges will be looking for:

  • Methods used to monitor customer satisfaction levels
  • How you empower your employees to ‘delight’ your customers
  • Employee training procedures to enhance customer satisfaction levels
  • Resources and tools implemented to support customers out of hours
  • Your process for customer returns, complains and follow-up
  • Evidence of how your customer service has impacted financial performance

This Award recognises an entrepreneur and their business who are making a stand to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Diversity Champion

Judges will be looking for:

  • How diversity has led to the business scaling
  • Examples of how the business has promoted diversity and inclusion
  • Policies that promote modern working practices that support diversity
  • Statistics around how many people from diverse backgrounds you employ
  • Data round what roles they fulfil in the business and how long they have been employed
  • If applicable, please give information about any media campaigns you have run to encourage diversity

Recognising a business that provides great products, outstanding customer service and solid financial results in the retail space. This award is open to retail businesses operating both online and traditional retail models.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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E-Commerce Business Award

Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of commercial success

• Overview of business and its future plans

• Evidence of why the business stands-out in the competitive retail sector

• Innovation led approach to online retailing (where applicable)

• Evidence of creation and execution of marketing plan to drive enquiries

This award is for businesses that have created stimulating and supportive work environments that put the health and wellbeing of their employees at the heart of everything they do.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Employer Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of initiatives that have increased employee engagement and benefit staff

• Clear company culture that is open and inclusive

• Positive leadership and management that inspires staff

• Clear human resources programmes that create a supportive work environment

• Evidence of employee engagement with the company’s values and goals

• Demonstrable levels of staff retention and development

• Schemes and training initiatives that contribute towards staff development

• Evidence of health and wellbeing initiatives

This award is open to businesses operating in any sector – and of any size – that is family owned and run by a member of the founding family. Typically, this award will be open to privately owned businesses and not for profit organisations.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Family Business Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Understanding of the history of the business and its family heritage

• Solid growth and financial performance

• Clearly defined management structure

• Business plan to achieve growth going forward

• Clear succession plan for future generations of the family or outside leadership

• Commitment to corporate social responsibility

If you’re a UK scale-up business that exports or trades internationally, then this category is for you. Entrants will have had to have traded globally for at least one year to be applicable.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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International Business Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Information about the company journey to date – what does your business do?

• Overview of your international trade or global operations

• Evidence of financial performance and impact of global trade

• Breakdown of countries you export to or work in

• Overview of your plans for the future in relation to international trade

• Evidence of how you are supporting ethical supply chains and global growth

A high growth company with at least 10 employees – & £1m turnover – that has seen average annualised growth of 20% or more in last three years.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Overall Scale-Up Business Award

Judges will be looking for:

• Demonstration of investment to build a strong management team

• Evidence of the growth mindset and commitment to building collaborations

• Evidence of financial performance that categorises the business as scale up

• Strategy around plans for further expansion

A unique category, this award is for scale-up leaders and businesses that have turned an industry on its head and shown that there is a fresher, more innovative or better way of doing business. Everyone said it wasn’t possible but these companies have proved the doubters wrong and are the true definition of a disruptor.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Scale-Up Disruptor Award

Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of how the business has disrupted its sector or market Impact the business has had on the sector or market it operates in

• Commercial success and financial performance

• Strategy around employee and customer engagement

• Overview of plans for the future

• If applicable – notes around the leader’s personal journey and any obstacles overcome

The Scale-Up Entrepreneur of the Year category will celebrate an individual that has taken an idea and turned it into a successful business with strong financials, a commitment to the environment and clear plans for future growth. The winner of this award is the type of person that builds empires, creates opportunities and disrupts markets.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Scale-Up Entrepreneur Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Evidence of financial performance

• Commitment to the environment and social inclusion

• Details of the entrepreneur’s story and any obstacles overcome

• Details of future plans in the business

• Information on any other business involvements or plans to launch other businesses

A modern business concentrates on more than just commercial success and relentless growth at any cost. These businesses put an emphasis on sustainability and moving towards a greener economy.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Sustainable Scale-Up Business Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Sustainable and green ideas that have been successfully implemented across the company

• Measurable impact of these sustainable changes

• Plans to create a greener future

• Evidence of commercial success

• Overview of how the employees have embraced the green vision

This Award is open to a scale-up business that is operating in the technology sector. Whether an augmented reality pioneer or healthtech business, the judges for this awards are looking for tech firms that are growing fast, employing people and have a clear plan for continued growth or exit.

The earlybird rate will be applied at checkout.
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Technology Scale-Up Of The Year

Judges will be looking for:

• Information about the company journey to date – what does your business do

• Evidence of strong commercial performance

• A breakdown of any patents or propriety tech or software, if applicable

• Demonstration of how your technology is being applied to your customers

• Clear outline of how your business has proven market fit

• Details around any funding rounds executed and plans to achieve future growth

DEADLINE: 11.59pm, 3RD JUNE 2024

All other categories remain open until 21st June 2024


This special award is brought to you by Theo Paphitis and is open to any business that has won the Small Business Sunday #SBS award.

Theo has teamed up with Business Leader and its Scale Up Awards to deliver this new category that will collate some of the best submissions. They will then be overseen by our judging panel – with a shortlist announced in August and a winner crowned in November by Theo himself.

What Is Small Business Sunday?

#SBS Small Business Sunday, launched on Twitter in 2010 by TV dragon and retail entrepreneur Theo Paphitis, is one of the leading small business communities in the UK.

Each week, Theo rewards small businesses who tweet him @theopaphitis and describe their business in one tweet, including the all-important hashtag #SBS. The competition is also now accessible via Instagram, and only social posts on Twitter or Instagram in the time slot between 5-7.30pm each Sunday will count.

Every Monday night, Theo will retweet and share the six lucky winners to his half a million followers, providing a massive boost to the lucky chosen businesses. They then gain access to all the benefits of being a #SBS winner, including a ticket to the much-coveted annual event.
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The #SBS Small Business Award

For this award the judges are looking for the following:

• Must have entered and won #SBS Small Business Sunday competition

• Clear plan for future growth including financial projections

• Any information around funding/ investment into the business or plans to do so

• Demonstration of metrics around delivering customer service

• Plans to create jobs and opportunities