The time has come for UK businesses to apply for a Queen's Award for Enterprise, 2021.
After an amazing 220 Awards were announced on the 21st April this year, the scheme would like to invite businesses to apply for the next round of this prestigious Award. The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are free to enter and you can apply for more than one award, if you wish.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of innovation; international trade; sustainable development; and promoting opportunity (through social mobility). The Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility Award ) will be launched at a later date.
The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious awards for UK businesses and is a globally recognised royal seal of approval for UK companies.
The scheme appreciates that businesses may have been affected in many shapes and forms by uncontrollable circumstances in recent months, such as flooding and Covid-19. To cater for this, the eligibility criteria has not changed and some changes have been made to the application system to enable you to manually input your financial years.
This means that you could wind back a year if your last financial year has been affected by Covid-19, storms, or flooding. For example, if you are applying for International Trade and your overseas sales growth was affected in 2020, you can now wind back a year and provide your figures for 2017, 2018 and 2019, rather than up to 2020.
Alternatively, you may prefer to submit figures over a shorter period of time. For example, for Innovation, you can select a two or five year period to demonstrate your commercial success. Similarly, with International Trade, you can opt to demonstrate overseas sales growth over a six or three year period.
Applications are assessed on a case by case basis and will be evaluated for commercial success and challenges by uncontrollable external factors. It is important to see the trends and patterns of each business' commercial success, to see how well they have performed before these challenging times. The full eligibility can be found on the scheme's website. If you have any questions, please email queensawards@beis.gov.uk
Commenting, Stuart Anderson MP: "Having been an entrepreneur myself, I know well the strains and stresses involved in creating and growing a business. I also know that there are many challenges which can be turned into opportunities that enable growth and success. Since the outbreak of Coronavirus, my office and I have been offering practical advice to businesses that have contacted me and escalating queries where appropriate. We will continue to do so as we start to come out of this pandemic and we restore economic activity. I know that there are many innovative and creative businesses in the constituency, and would encourage as many applications from Wolverhampton South West as possible."
To apply, you will need to: create an account and register your details; answer questions about your eligibility - this should take less than 15 minutes; and submit your application by midday on 9 September 2020.
If you win you’ll be invited to a Royal reception; presented with the award at your company by one of The Queen’s representatives, a Lord-Lieutenant; able to fly The Queen’s Awards flag at your main office, and use the emblem on your marketing materials (for example, on your packaging, advertisements, stationery and website); and given a Grant of Appointment (an official certificate) and a commemorative crystal trophy. The awards are valid for 5 years. Winners have reported benefiting from worldwide recognition, increased commercial value, greater press coverage and a boost to staff morale.
If you submit an application in 2020
1 May 2020 New application period opens for 2021 awards.
9 September 2020 (midday) Application period closes.
October 2020 Shortlisted organisations notified.
November 2020 Shortlisted organisations asked to provide verified commercial figures.
March 2021 Winning organisations notified.
April 2021 Unsuccessful organisations receive feedback on their applications.
21 April 2021 Winners officially announced in the London Gazette.
Summer 2021 Representatives from the winning organisations invited to attend a Royal reception.
Begin your Queen's Awards application now, by registering your business here.