Category Description
This award is aimed at an innovative product (or range of products) which demonstrates best practice in sustainable design and innovation, and which has clear market potential. All phases of the lifecycle of the innovative product (from conception, pre-production, production, distribution, usage, post-usage) should be considered.
The award will recognise organisations that push the boundaries to create an innovative product that delivers an environmentally friendly alternative to an existing potentially polluting product; an innovative product with a clear social purpose; or any other product that demonstrates purpose-driven sustainability. The judges will give extra credit to entries which make innovative use of otherwise wasted resources or repurpose waste into a new useful product.
Initiatives will also be rewarded for addressing energy, water and other ecological footprints, as well as wider concerns around food, waste and social inequality.
The judges will specifically be looking for evidence of: verifiable environmental and/or social benefits of the product, including as compared to its predecessor where there is one (whether they be measured in environmental impact reductions, cost savings or general social impact on the community served); the use of awareness raising to promote the product and encourage its uptake; whether the product is scalable and replicable; and how it sits within the organisation’s overall environmental and social performance.
Products or prototypes will have been launched during the period 2021-24.
We request a total word count of 1500 words +/-10% (excl. supporting docs). Any confidential data will be treated as such and only shared with the judging panel.
Criteria
Judges will be looking for evidence within the application form of the following weighted criteria:
- Details of the product innovation, how it was developed, its goals and ethos and how a need was identified for the product (30%)
- Evidence and effectiveness of the product and the verifiable reductions to the environment or positive impacts to society (40%)
- Successful promotion of the environmental and/or social benefits of the product incl. market reaction, public and sector engagement, industry awards won, press coverage gained (15%)
- Evidence of commercial success / potential, and the wider potential for scalability and replicability (15%)
PLEASE NOTE: The criteria above are different to the questions in the application form. You will need to follow the application questions; cross-referencing these with the criteria to ensure you’ve captured them within your application. The criteria are followed by the judges in order to compare all entries in each category like-for-like, Please ensure you register / login to AwardStage (Opens 3 Feb), select the category and export a PDF copy of the questions. Some category application questions differ. The application questions will be available four weeks before entries open, so if you wish to get them ahead of time please email us.
Are we eligible to enter?
Our awards programme is open to all organisations of any kind… companies large and small, charities, not-for-profits, social enterprises, NGOs, membership and accreditation organisations and government departments including local and county councils. We are all about rewarding sustainability practice – in all its forms. So if your organisation is making a difference, directly or indirectly to people and planet, you’re eligible.
We don’t just recognise businesses that are operating responsibly, or supporting / partnering with worthwhile causes. We also actively encourage entries from organisations that have been specifically set up or adapted to offer a product or service that tackles a social or environmental problem.
Our category descriptions and criteria have been written to guide entrants on what content should be detailed in their entries. However, we do not expect square pegs to fit in round holes… Some of your business activities or dedicated programmes might not fit entirely with any one specific category. In these cases, the descriptions and criteria are open to an element of interpretation and rest assured that our judges will still take into account entries that are strongly aligned with the overall context of the category.
If you have any concerns about the suitability of your entry, or would like to discuss your activities in more detail, we are here to help. Give Karen a call on 07813 718541 or email us.