Overview
The King’s Awards for Enterprise are for outstanding achievement by UK businesses in the categories of:
- innovation
- international trade
- sustainable development
- promoting opportunity through social mobility
Find out if your business is eligible.
Eligibility
To apply for the King’s Award for Enterprise your organisation must:
- be based in the UK (including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man)
- have a good compliance record with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) – for example, showing you pay the right amount of tax on time
- be a self-contained enterprise under its own management and complete its own accounts
- have at least 2 full-time UK employees or part-time equivalents
- demonstrate strong environmental, social and governance practices
Your organisation can be a business, non-profit or in the public sector.
Each of the award categories has additional entry criteria.
International Trade
To apply for the International Trade award, you must also:
- have made a minimum of £100,000 in overseas sales in the first year of your entry and show year-on-year growth
- prove that your organisation has achieved outstanding growth in overseas earnings relative to your business size and sector
- prove steep year-on-year growth (without dips) in overseas sales over 3 years – or substantial year-on-year growth (without dips) over 6 years
Innovation
To apply for the Innovation award, you must also:
- have an innovation that has not been sold before
- have had your innovation available on the market for at least 2 years
- have recovered all the investments made in your innovation or show that the innovation will recover its full costs in future
- show outstanding commercial success as a result of innovation between 2 to 5 years
Your innovation should be in one of the following categories:
- invention, design or production of goods
- performance of services
- marketing and distribution
- after-sale support of goods or services
Sustainable Development
To apply for the Sustainable Development award, you must also:
- show how you’ve achieved outstanding commitment to sustainability for more than 2 years
- show how your organisation has built sustainability into its vision and strategy
- show the impact or positive outcomes of your actions or interventions
You can include examples, such as showing how you’ve:
- developed an innovative product, service or process that has environmental benefits
- made sustainability an essential part of your organisation, supply chain or community
Read the United Nations sustainable development goals to identify which goals are relevant to your work.
To apply for this award, your organisation must have a programme that supports people from disadvantaged backgrounds in improving their job skills and their chances of finding work.
This includes doing one or more of the following, for at least 2 years:
- providing work experience or careers advice
- mentoring
- offering interview and job-related training
- making sure your recruitment process is open to everyone
You’ll need to prove the benefits for:
- the people you’ve supported
- your organisation
- your employees
- the wider community
You cannot apply if social mobility is the main focus of your organisation.
If you’re a training provider or educational organisation, you can only apply if you do one of the following:
- apply with a business
- have a social mobility initiative for your employees
What happens if your organisation gets an award
If you get an award you’ll be:
- invited to a Royal reception
- presented with the award at your company by one of The King’s representatives, a Lord-Lieutenant
- able to fly The King’s Awards flag at your main office, and use the emblem on your marketing materials (for example, on your packaging, advertisements, stationery and website)
- given a Grant of Appointment (an official certificate) and a commemorative crystal trophy
The awards are valid for 5 years.
Organisations that got an award have reported benefiting from:
- worldwide recognition
- increased commercial value
- greater press coverage
- a boost to staff morale
Find out when the award recipients are announced.
Previous award recipients
Read about previous award recipients.
Apply
The King’s Awards for Enterprise are free to enter. You can apply for more than one category.
You can now apply for the 2026 awards until 9 September 2025.
You’ll need to:
- create an account and register your details
- answer questions about your eligibility – this should take less than 15 minutes
- submit your application by 1pm on 9 September 2025
Apply here
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