Award categories

To help you decide what award category to enter, your business should meet the following criteria:

Small Business of the Year

• Be a small business that employs no more than 50 people
• Be a small business that’s more than 2 years old
• Have an annual turnover no greater than £5.6 million

See last year's winners.

Entrepreneur of the Year

• Be an individual or individuals who have assumed the risk, organised and managed their own business
• Be an individual or individuals who run a business of one to no more than 250 employees
• Be able to demonstrate net profit figures for the last business year

See last year's winners.

Contribution to the Community Award (NEW)

• Be a small business (as per the criteria for Small Business of the Year) or a UK social enterprise which is defined as:
  a business that trades for social or environmental purposes
  a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community
• Be a business whose product or service is sold/supplied with the aim of making a positive contribution to the community it serves
• Be able to show evidence of how the business or enterprise serves the community

Online Business of the Year (NEW)

• Be able to demonstrate how innovative use of the internet has boosted sales/grown the business
• Be able to demonstrate that the percentage of sales figures achieved via the company's website is 70% or more
• Be able to submit figures to demonstrate the number of unique users per month