Category Description
This award is aimed at any enterprise with a trading start date no earlier than January 2021 (incorporation date can be earlier if evidence of later trading commencement is provided), which has a purpose-driven product or service and a holistic approach to innovative leadership within its sector. The product or service can be anything that demonstrates positive social or environmental impact.
The judging panel will be looking for details on how and why the start-up enterprise was created; how the need for its product or service was identified; how start-up challenges were tackled and overcome; whether it is patented; its goals and ethos and how they apply in practice.
Judges will take into consideration how the business is operating to reduce environmental impacts across the board and boost sustainable outcomes, and how it treats its employees and suppliers, and the communities in which it operates.
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 of the following points within the supplied application form (weighting percentages in brackets):
- Details of the product or service innovation, why and how it was developed, its goals and ethos (30%)
- Effectiveness of the product or service and evidence of the market demand for it; along with details of its sustainability benefits, including environmental impacts / improvements, and positive social impacts to the community in which the product or service is delivered (45%)
- Successful awareness raising to promote and support the product / service and its sustainability benefits, including market reaction, industry awards won, press coverage gained (15%)
- Potential for further replication / launch of related products or services (whether or not the product is patented (10%)
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.