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 that markets its own products or services and is under its own management
• 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 sustainable development for more than 2 years
• give evidence of the benefits or positive outcomes of your actions or interventions
• show how your company and its senior leaders pioneer sustainable development in your sector or community
• show how you’ve overcome challenges with sustainability that are specific to your sector

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.