Why enter awards?

Entering awards relevant to your business and meaningful to your audience can bring numerous benefits. Being shortlisted or a winner showcases your success and raises brand awareness, brings local/national recognition to your hard work, increases credibility through 3^rd party endorsement and promotes your business to potential new customers, markets and suppliers. Awards also recognise employees’ contributions and their hard work, boosting morale and motivation, in turn helping you to retain good staff and attract new talent.

The application process focuses you to consider what is outstanding about your business and what differentiates you from your competition. The process encourages you to really consider your business narrative and how to communicate that most effectively. It may also identify areas for improvement.

Awards are a chance to celebrate – and don’t forget to maximise your PR exposure to communicate your successes.

We have collated a list of some of the Kent Business awards. Whilst we have endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at the time of publication, dates and details may change, so please visit the awards’ websites to obtain the latest information.

Awards which are currently open include:

KENT HEALTH AND BEAUTY AWARDS http://health-and-beauty-awards.co.uk/nominations/
Nominations are now open and will close on April 13^th. See the website for the full list of categories
Completed forms to be returned by April 27^th  The shortlist will be announced on May 3^rd

KENT EXCELLENCE IN BUSINESS AWARDS www.keiba.co.uk
Run by KCC for businesses throughout Kent & Medway. The deadline has recently been extended to 5pm, March 2^nd, 2018.
Categories include: Family Business of the Year, Apprenticeship of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Outstanding Contribution to Business in Kent, Start-up Business of the Year, Business Commitment to the Community, Entrepreneur of the Year, Customer Service award, Employer of the year.
Deadline for entries: Postal March 12^th, Email March 15^th, 2018

THE BUSINESSWOMEN EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018, KENT www.businesswomenexcellenceawards.co.uk/region/kent
Categories include: New Business/Start-Up of the Year, Business Woman of the Year, Entrepreneur of the Year, Small Business of the Year, Contribution to the Community.

THE TIMES BUSINESS AWARDS 2018 www.timesbusinessawards.co.uk
In association with, and widely promoted by, the Times Local Newspapers.  Open now to register your interest. Closing date May 9^th.
There are 10 categories listed on the website including Start-up Business, Business Person of the Year, Creative Business of the Year, Service Excellence, Employee of the Year, Outstanding Business of the Year, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Export and International Award, Best Business 1-25 employees, Best Business 25+ employees

KENT BUSINESS AWARDS 2018 www.businessawardskent.co.uk
This covers three distinct areas:
Canterbury (inc Whitstable, Herne Bay, Margate, Ramsgate & Broadstairs) Deadline was Feb 23rd
Maidstone (including Kings Hill, West Malling & East Malling)           Deadline: May 25th
Ashford (also Hythe, Romney Marsh, Folkestone, Deal & Dover)            Deadline: Oct 26th
See the website for a full list of categories

THIRD KENT CREATIVE AWARDS http://kentcreativearts.co.uk/kent-creative-awards/kent-creative-awards-2018/
Celebrating arts and culture in Kent. These awards celebrate organisations and individuals who make a worthwhile contribution to the artistic and cultural life of Kent
Open now, submissions close 15th June.
August – September: Judging process
Finalists announcement:  September
Awards ceremony: Friday 2nd November

 Planning for 2019

It is valuable to start considering and planning strategically for any awards which you may wish to enter in 2019. This additional time allows you to research the awards in more detail, review past winners, and spend more time gathering evidence to support your own entry. In an ideal world, give yourself plenty of time, and start completing the forms 1-2 months in advance or as soon as the nominations open. Some of the awards listed below had closing dates in January/February which is worth factoring into your planning especially if you are busier than usual over the Christmas period/January sales.

SO MAGAZINE LIFESTYLE AWARDS www.somagazines.co.uk
2018 awards took place in February, look out for more information at the end of Autumn.

FSB CELEBRATING SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS 2018 www.kentbusinessradio.co.uk/fsb.awards
For businesses in the South East of England. Closing date for entries this year was Jan 2018.

KENT WOMEN IN BUSINESS AWARDS www.kwibawards.co.uk
The deadline for entries in 2018 was February.

Updated February 2018